The Vulpine Rabbit
by Baron Zed
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is the transmigration of Kaguya rather than Asura. An early encounter with Zetsu has her coming into her inheritance early. Starts at the end of the Mizuki encounter. Fem!Naruto with multiple bloodlines. No pairings. Hinata replaces Sakura on Team 7.
1. Chapter 1: Captured

Naruto and its characters were created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is fan fiction.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This story is more of an action story than either of my previous stories ( _The Missing Bijuu_ and _A Pleasant Sort of Hell_ ). My intention is to take this from about the start of the Canon story through the fallout of the Chuunin Exams. After that we'll see.

Added to the Glossary on 2016-01-09.

* * *

 **Japanese versus English**

I'm going to be using mainly English for technique (jutsu) names unless I think they're unwieldy or silly sounding in English such as Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) and Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God). I'm taking the creative license of calling Henge no Jutsu Disguise Technique, instead of the literal and more commonly used Transformation, because I think it describes the skill better. I'll be mainly using Japanese for titles and place names, and bloodline abilities. I'll be using the Asian style of family names before given names.

Standard Romanji (Latin alphabet transcription of Japanese) calls for the use of a macron (a bar over a letter) to denote a long vowel. For ease of typing, I'm using the alternate style of doubling a vowel to denote its long (except for long o which I'm writing ou). The Japanese learned the Latin alphabet from the Portuguese, so vowels are pronounced as in Portuguese, Spanish, or Italian: a is like a in father, e is like e in they, i is like i in machine, o is like oa in boat, and u is like ue in blue. Long vowels in Japanese are longer or more stressed rather than "saying their name" as in English.

* * *

 **Honorifics**

I'm going to try and use honorifics in the Japanese style as best I can, but it might be a little bit off. In general using too high or too low an honorific is insulting. If too high an honorific is used it is assumed to be sarcastic or patronizing. Honorifics can be applied to family or given names for more or less formality.

No honorific: Denotes intimacy or contempt. Used only with those very close or those you wish to deliberately insult.

-chan: More a diminutive than an honorific. Very roughly equivalent to calling someone baby or honey in English. Used to talk to children. Often used for teenage girls, especially among themselves. Considered cutesy. Is insulting when used for an adult or teenage boy. Naruto overuses this due to not being taught correctly.

-kun: Very roughly equivalent to calling someone a pal, dude, or friend. Used for peers that are friendly. Often used for teenage boys.

-san: The standard honorific for strangers or formality. Roughly equivalent to calling someone Mr., Mrs., or Ms.

-sama: The honorific to someone above you. Shows great respect. Roughly equivalent to calling someone Lord or Lady.

* * *

 **Relatives**

Japanese has many ways to refer to relatives. These are the ones I'll be using.

O-: Adds respect.

Honorifics: The following are used with honorifics most often (e.g., Baachan).

Baa: Grandmother

Ba: Aunt

Jii: Grandfather

Ji: Uncle

Kaa: Mother

Mago: Grandchild

Nee: Older sister

Nii: Older brother

Otou: Father

* * *

 **Japanese Glossary** (I'll try and keep this updated.)

Akatsuki: Dawn

Akasuna: Red sand. Sasori's title

Ame: Rain. Short for Amekagure no Satu: Village Hidden by the Rain.

ANBU: Short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai which means Special Assassination and Tactical Squad

Bijuu: Tailed Beast. In Naruto, this denotes the nine sentient, powerful chakra constructs

Byakugan: White eye. A bloodline ability that allows the holder to see through solid objects and to see chakra when activated.

Chakra: In Naruto, this is a combination of spiritual and physical energy used to enhance and power techniques making them super human

Chuunin: Middle ninja. Second shinobi rank

Doujutsu: Eye technique. A class of bloodline abilities

Ero-sennin: Pervert sage/hermit

Fuuinjutsu: Sealing technique. A technique a user to create a seal using pictures, characters, and chakra. Some allow later activation using more chakra. Most frequently used to store things or to make explosions, but many other effects are possible.

Genin: Low ninja. First and lowest shinobi rank

Genjutsu: Illusionary technique. Using chakra to make an illusion

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire

Hime: Princess

Hiraishin: Flying Thunder God. A technique that allows teleportation to premade seals.

Hokage: Fire Shadow. The leader of Konoha

Ichibi: One Tail. One of the bijuu

Jinchuuriki: Power of human sacrifice. Indicates a human with a bijuu sealed inside them

Jounin: High Ninja. Third and highest ninja rank

Kashiwa no Sato: Oak Village

Kawa no Kuni: Land of Rivers

Kitsune: Fox. In English this denotes a supernatural fox, but in Japanese it means any fox

Konoha: Tree Leaves. Short for Konohagakure no Sato. Village Hidden by the Tree Leaves

Kusa: Grass. Short for Kusagakure no Sato. Village Hidden by the Grass.

Kyuubi: Nine Tails. One of the bijuu

Mokuton: Wood release. A bloodline ability that allows the user to create objects out of living wood and to influence the growth of trees and plants.

Nami no Kuni: Land of Waves

Nin: Short for ninja (shinobi)

Ninjutsu: Ninja Techniques. Expressing chakra outside the body for a physical result

No: A Japanese preposition indicating possession or to connect two nouns, e.g., Hi no Kuni or Kyuubi no Kitsune

Rasengan: Spiralling Sphere. An offensive technique that makes a ball of chakra that has multiple rotational axes inside of it. Drills and grinds when pushed into an object

Rikudou Sennin: Sage of Six Paths

Sannin: Three Ninja. Short for Densetsu no Sannin: Legendary Three Ninja

Sato: Village

Sharingan: Copy wheel eye. A bloodline ability that allows its holder to predict movement and to understand how chakra is used when activated. It allows the user to copy many types of techniques and to remember them.

Shinobi: Ninja. Shinobi and ninja are two different readings (pronunciation) of the same kanji (Chinese style word character). Ninja is the reading emulating the original Chinese pronunciation (onyomi) and shinobi is the native Japanese reading (kunyomi). Note that Chinese has changed since the Japanese adopted Kanji, so those characters would no longer be pronounced that way in Mandarin

Suna: Sand. Short for Sunagakure no Sato: Village Hidden by the Sand

Taijutsu: Body technique. Martial Arts. Includes some chakra techniques that are used in conjunction with martial arts

Tenketsu: Pressure point(s). In Naruto, they are the points through which chakra can be released from the body

Uzu no Kuni: Land of Whirlpools

Uzushio: Whirling Tides. Short for Uzushiogakure no Sato: Village Hidden by the Whirling Tides

* * *

"You can open your eyes now, Naruto-kun," Umino Iruka said.

Uzumaki Naruto opened her eyes. She was a short girl with a slender figure, straight blond hair that went to the middle of her back and bright blue eyes. Her face was narrow with delicate, aristocratic features. She would be called gorgeous if it weren't for three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek which made her look either fierce or cute, depending on her expression. Either look was completely ruined, however, by her bright orange jumpsuit. She reached up and felt where Iruka had placed the headband with the Leaf Badge on it.

"Congratulations, you're a genin shinobi."

She had failed the Genin Exam for the third time thanks to being unable to perform the Clone Technique and, if she was honest with herself, her horrible written test score and her mediocre scores in the other subjects. Mizuki-sensei had offered a "makeup test" as a second chance, but that had turned out to be a ploy to get the Forbidden Scroll so he could blame it on her. Mizuki had told her that the reason everyone hated her was that she had the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside her, but Iruka had shown he was a true friend and had passed her because she had defeated Mizuki using the Shadow Clone Technique she had just learned from the Scroll.

She was brought out of her reminiscing by the sound of clapping. She turned to see a young boy with red hair and an androgynous blond—both in black cloaks with red clouds.

"That was beautiful, hn," said the blond in a tenor voice—marking him tentatively as male.

"It seems that suborning Orochimaru's stooge has paid dividends," said the redhead. "The Kyuubi is here all alone with just a barely standing chuunin."

"I'm not the Kyuubi!" Naruto shouted.

"I don't care," said the boy. "You're coming with us. Deidara-san, a demonstration."

"Of course, I'd be happy to share my art, hn. Art is a blast!" The blond threw a small clay bird into the air which exploded. He then threw a bunch of little birds which landed on and around Naruto and Iruka.

Naruto started to swat at the birds, but the redhead said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"If I come with you will you leave Iruka alone?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes, we'll let him live, but only if you come," said the redhead.

"Naruto-kun, you can't. . ." started Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei, nobody will miss me if I'm gone, but I can't let someone who has acknowledged me die."

"I'll miss you," her teacher whispered.

She dropped the Forbidden Scroll and said, "I'm just moving him to safety."

She formed two Shadow Clones. One picked up the scroll and the other pulled Iruka onto her shoulder and dragged him away.

"How do we know you're the real one?" asked the redhead.

She took a kunai out of her pouch and slashed her forearm which proceeded to bleed. "A Shadow Clone would have dispersed. I'll come quietly if you let him go, but if you don't, I'll swamp this forest with hundreds of Shadow Clones and you'll have to hunt me down."

"Very well," said the redhead. "We don't care about him anyway."

He approached her and jabbed her with a knife with a suspicious-looking residue. A few seconds later she blacked out.

* * *

Naruto woke up after an indeterminate time. She was alone in a room with a washbasin, a chamber pot, a tray with a bowl and cup, and a cot. There weren't any windows, and only one door.

Oddly, she had memories of dragging Iruka until they were met by the Hokage and some ANBU. She and Iruka had told them what had happened and she had picked out the blond and the redhead from a book with pictures that the Hokage had said was called a Bingo Book: Deidara and Akasuna no Sasori-missing nin from Iwa and Suna, respectively. The Hokage had told her that they would come for her, but that if she happened to escape, she should make a clone and have it think about what had happened so that her clone here would know. Then he told one of her to disperse. She realized that she must be remembering what the clone experienced. She figured that the other one must still be in Konoha because she did not have any other weird memories like that. She hoped that meant she had not been gone too long.

She examined herself. She was still dressed as she had been, but she also had a metal cuff on her right wrist that had lettering on it that must be a seal. The only other thing she noticed is that all her shinobi tools were missing.

She tried to make a Shadow Clone, but her chakra wouldn't mold. All she felt was the cuff heat up a little.

She went to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. The bowl had miso soup in it and the cup had water. She ate and drank. She felt a little better, but was still hungry. She wanted some ramen badly. She went back to the cot and lay down to try and figure out what to do.

* * *

Naruto was startled out of a ramen daydream by the door opening. An odd looking man-shaped thing entered the room. He was half black and half white and shaped like a poorly-made doll. He had leafy green hair and a sparse leaf skirt around his waist on the black side.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am called Zetsu," he said with a deep voice.

Zetsu approached her. "You feel like Kaasan. Why does your chakra feel like my mother's?" he asked.

"Who is your mother?" Naruto asked.

"Outsutsuki Kaguya-hime, the Rabbit Goddess."

Naruto had never heard of such a person or goddess, but she thought she might be able to use this to her advantage.

"If you take off this cuff, you'll be able to look at my chakra better," she said. It was a long shot, she knew. Gambits like this only work in novels and manga.

He nodded and moved forward.

"She's trying to trick us," Zetsu said in a higher voice.

"I know," the doll man said in its deeper voice, "but I need to figure this out. Besides, she's a new genin and barely found out she's a jinchuuriki. What's she going to do?"

Zetsu grabbed the cuff and channeled chakra into it. The cuff opened and she could feel her chakra better.

Deep-voice Zetsu said, "Behave or it goes back on."

The man thing held onto her wrist and started channeling chakra into her. She felt her chakra respond.

"Her chakra isn't Kaasan's," said the deeper voice, "but there's an aspect of it that feels like Kaasan's. This aspect has attracted some of the residual chakra Kaasan left in the world."

Experimentally, Naruto tugged on the creature's chakra with her own. Zetsu's chakra was similar to her own, but it had a dark taint to it. She wondered if she could remove the taint, so she concentrated on how her chakra felt without it.

"What are you doing?" asked the high-voiced Zetsu. "Stop that," added the deep-voiced one.

She ignored them and tried to absorb and purify Zetsu's chakra more rapidly. She started to feel warmer, but kept at it. Zetsu tried to pull away. When that failed, Zetsu's black half started to ooze over her hand. She felt that she had to keep going. Zetsu started to hit her with his white fist. That hurt at first, but she kept draining him and the blows got weaker. She was feeling quite hot, but Zetsu was shrinking in on himself and starting to look like a dried out husk.

When she finished draining Zetsu, he turned to dust and she was feeling feverish and bloated. She tried to keep hold of her chakra, but after a few minutes it slipped and her chakra exploded out of her.


	2. Chapter 2: Escape

When Naruto regained consciousness, she looked around the room. There were cracks in all the walls and the door was hanging off the hinges. Her clothes had been shredded by her chakra exploding. Her skin looked noticeably paler. A lock of her hair that hung down her front caught her eyes and she saw that it had lightened to a pure white color. As she stood up, she noticed that her head felt heavier than normal. She reached up and felt two hard growths on the top of her head.

She grimaced. The hair and skin colors were not too bad, but the last thing she needed was to look less human.

She left the room and started carefully exploring the area outside her room. It appeared to be a small hideout with a central room with a cooking and dinning area and four side rooms, one of which had been her cell. Thankfully, she was the only one present. They must have left that weird Zetsu thing on guard. She explored the other main room and the side rooms. She stole some clothes from what must have been the redhead's room and found her ninja tools. She found a mirror in the blond's room. She looked mostly the same other than her coloring and the things on her head. In addition to her skin and hair, her eyes were now very pale with just a hint of blue. They looked a lot like her classmate Hinata's eyes. The horn or bone protrusions on here head were a light brown and looked vaguely like rabbit ears. That Zetsu thing did say she reminded him of the Rabbit Goddess Kaguya. She wondered if there was a connection. The only other thing was a faint vertical line in the center of her forehead. She poked at it and it felt like a crease. A harder poke told her that the area around the crease had give to it unlike the rest of her forehead. She decided to leave it alone for now.

She gathered up some food and anything else that might be useful. After a quick meal she left through a cave mouth. She was in a forest with no obvious trails. She kept walking until she came to a small river. She decided to follow it downriver. Eventually she came to a small village.

She approached a middle-aged woman and asked, "Excuse me ma'am, but I got lost in the woods. Can you tell me where I am?"

"This is Kashiwa no Sato, Hyuuga-san."

"I'm not a Hyuuga," Naruto said absently. She had not heard if this village before.

"Oh, my apologies, Miss. Your eyes, from the stories I've heard. . ."

"It's a common mistake, Ma'am," she said, "I don't mind, but Hyuuga have dark hair. Is your village in Hi no Kuni?"

"No, this is Kawa no Kuni. You must be really lost."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

Naruto thought quickly as she walked away. Kawa no Kuni was between Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni. To get back to Konoha she needed to go east. She did not dare stay put lest she be recaptured. It was mid morning, so the sun was in the east. She oriented herself and started walking.

When she was a few minutes out of town, she made a Shadow Clone and told it to think about what had happened and that she was moving east from Kashiwa no Sato in Kawa no Kuni. Then it dispelled.

She moved off into the forest about 50 meters from the road and started jogging, keeping parallel to the road. After five minutes she felt new memories from a clone dispersing. The Hokage had had her remaining clone in Konoha make and disperse a clone to send her a message. The Hokage wanted her to try and make for the border. He wanted her to wait at a border station if she could find one. He suggested that she use the Disguise Technique to hide her appearance and suggested that she pretend to be a Hyuuga since she had been mistaken for one already. He suggested that she keep her Leaf Badge on her forehead so that no one would think she was Main Family who were all too well known and gave suggestions for getting past the border. She used the Disguise Technique to change the color of her hair to black and to hide her horns and whisker marks. She started jogging again.

About two hours later she noticed a clearing up ahead. She looked toward the road and saw two booths. They must be customs stations at the border. She thought about sneaking across the border, but figured it was better to make contact sooner with friendly forces. She moved back to the road and approached the stations.

When she approached the first booth a bored-looking guard looked up from reading a book and said, "Name and purpose for traveling?"

"Hyuuga Naru, Genin of Konohagakure no Sato returning to Konoha after a personal visit to Suna," she said following the suggestions given her by the Hokage via her Shadow Clone.

"Anything to declare for customs?" he asked.

"Nothing."

He waved her through and went back to his book.

She approached the second booth which was standing 20 yards away. There were three guards on the Hi no Kuni side and they were much more alert. Part of the reason may have been the vaguely familiar Konoha shinobi standing with them. He had a bowl cut and huge eyebrows. He was dressed in a green jumpsuit with orange legwarmers and a jounin flak jacket. He had a Leaf Badge on his belt.

"Hello, Miss," said the lead guard. "Can I have your name and purpose for travel?"

"Hyuuga Naru, Genin of Konohagakure no Sato returning to Konoha after a personal visit to Suna," she repeated.

"Anything to declare for customs, Hyuuga-san?" the guard asked.

"Nothing."

"Naru-san," the shinobi said, "My name is Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey. Hokage-sama sent me on a most Youthful mission to retrieve his honorary granddaughter from her stressful journey. I assume that is you?"

"Yes, I can't wait to sit down to a bowl of ramen with jiichan." 'Stressful' and 'ramen' were the sign and countersign that the Hokage had set up to identify someone he had sent.

She followed Gai until they were out of sight of the customs stations. "Excuse me Gai-san, I need to let the Hokage know you've found me via a Shadow Clone."

She quickly made and dispersed a clone.

"What a most Youthful communication method!" Gai boomed.

"Err, yes. Gai-san, do you know how long I've been gone?"

"About 3 days."

"Okay. I'm anxious to get back."

"How Youthful! Naru-san, I am one of the fastest shinobi in the service of Konoha. Do you mind if I carry you so that we may arrive in our Youthful village much more quickly?"

Naruto was felt like she could keep going physically, but she was mentally and emotionally exhausted. "Okay, Gai-san."

"Very well. I will speed us to Konoha with extra Youth!" he boomed and scooped her up into a 'princess' carry and sped off.

Just less than two hours later they were standing in the Hokage's office. One of Naruto's Shadow Clones was sitting in the office.

"Can I dismiss now?" asked the clone.

"Just a moment, I want you to make another Shadow Clone and dismiss and we can see if she knows the password I gave you a few minutes ago," said the Hokage.

The clone followed his instructions. After the clone's clone dispersed Naruto said, "The password is 'orange.'"

"Very well, you can disperse," said the Hokage.

The clone dispersed and Naruto felt the rush of experience. The clone had not done much, but she had been awake for three days. The Hokage had been afraid she would disperse if she slept. The only noteworthy thing that had happened to her was a mild interrogation by T&I.

The Hokage dismissed Gai and said, "Naruto-kun, I'd like you to tell me what happened. Your clone told me, but she only knew of it via second hand memories. I'd like a first-hand retelling of it."

Naruto told the Hokage what had happened from the time that Mizuki approached her after the failed exam until she and Gai entered the office.

"My wife, Biwako, was a Senju. She told me that the Senju, Uzumaki, and Uchiha Clans were all descended from Rikudou Sennin-sama and that his name was Outsutsuki Hagoromo. She said that the reason the Senju and the Uchiha always fought was because of an inheritance dispute that the Uchiha couldn't let go. I wonder if this Kaguya lady is related to him."

"There's an Uzumaki Clan? Why haven't I met them?" she asked earnestly.

"Unfortunately, most of them died years ago during an attack on their homeland. Your mother was the last that we knew of."

"How come you never told me about my parents, Jiichan?" she said sadly.

"Your parents had many enemies, Naruto-kun. Your mother was even kidnapped when she was about your age. While you look like your mother, your coloring used to be very similar to your fathers, and you were missing the distinctive Uzumaki red hair. Without that I thought it safe to let you have your mother's name, but if people thought you were a real Uzumaki, it would put you in danger."

"Please tell me about her, Jiichan. I swear I won't tell," she pleaded.

"I'll tell you a little bit as a test, but if I hear gossip about her being your mother, I won't tell you about your father until you are a jounin or are 18. He had even more enemies. If you've kept the secret I'll tell you about your father when you are a chuunin."

She pouted and gave him the puppy dog eyes, but he remained unmoved. "Okay, Jiichan, I promise."

"Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina. Her personality was actually a lot like yours when she was young. She was very boisterous and prone to pranks. She and your father were very happy when they found out she was pregnant with you, but they both died during the Kyuubi attack. I can show you a picture of her tomorrow."

"Thanks, Jiichan," she said. "I would like that." Her eyes were a little watery with emotion from finally finding out a little about her family.

The Hokage let her process it for about a minute and then said, "Please dispel the Disguise, Naruto-kun."

Naruto did so and the Hokage said, "Mostly just a coloring change. I wonder if that's a real Byakugan or if it just looks like one? Can I touch your horns?"

Naruto nodded. She felt a slight pressure as he gently pushed on one of them. "Have you noticed anything else strange, Naruto-kun?" he asked.

"Just the weird slit in the center of my forehead. It's easy to miss, if you don't look closely. There's something other than bone behind it."

"I want you to get an exam from my personal physician before you go home today," he said.

"Do I have to? I'm really tired and I hate the hospital."

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but it's standard practice for shinobi who have been captured—especially if there are physical changes. Mostly it's to make sure there aren't tracking seals or worse on you."

"Worse?" she asked nervously.

"My old student Orochimaru, for example, used a curse seal on one of our shinobi that sometimes causes her pain. She says Orochimaru told her it would give her power, but my other student, Jiraiya-kun, says that if she uses it, it will rob her of her free will."

"Okay," she said begrudgingly.

"I have just a couple more things to talk to you about before I let you go," the Hokage said. "First, I've decided to honor Iruka's advancement of you. Not only did you learn a jounin-level ninjutsu, you defeated a chuunin and escaped from S-rank missing nin. Also, I think that failing you because you can't perform the Clone Technique with your huge chakra reserves is stupid. You would need much better chakra control than what we expect of genin to do so. If I had known that's why they were failing you I would have intervened."

Naruto gave him a blinding smile.

"The second thing is that I'd like to ask you about a few of your classmates and whether you think you can work with them. I don't normally do this, but with the Clone fiasco and the kidnapping, I want to cut you a break."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks, Jiichan."

"Do you think you can work with Haruno Sakura-san?"

Naruto frowned. "I've tried to be friends with her, because she used to get picked on for her hair and her forehead. At first she friendly, but after the first couple of days she just ignored me. But within the last few years, she has been vicious to me, both physically and verbally—especially if the Uchiha is in the room. I've asked Ayame-neechan about it and she thinks it's because she's jealous of my looks and she's afraid I'll steal her 'Sasuke-kun' from her. Personally, I don't see it. I'm too short and skinny and I have these birthmarks." She touched her cheeks. "But to be honest, all most all of the girls are like that. Sakura is just the worst. She's usually the only one that hits me."

"Is Yamanaka Ino-san one of them?"

"Yes, she's one of the worst verbally, although she rarely hits me."

"How about Hyuuga Hinata-san?"

"No, Hinata-san is very quiet and shy. A couple of times she was friendly to me, but for the most part she kept to her self."

"Do you think you can work with Uchiha Sasuke-san?"

"No, but to be honest, I don't think he's willing to work with anyone. Where Hinata-san keeps to herself out of shyness, Sasuke does it out of contempt. I tried to be friendly to him after the massacre, since I'm an orphan too, but he ignored me like he does everyone." She chuckled nervously. "I may have indulged in some name calling and bragging with him because he ignored me or put me down."

"What do you want from your jounin sensei?"

"I want someone who will actually train me. No one has ever taught me anything. I don't really count the Academy lectures since I didn't understand most of what they said. I like to work hard. I _need_ to work hard. I don't want to be captured by those red-cloud freaks again. What I don't want is someone that will ignore because of the Kyuubi or because I was dead last or because I don't have a clan to help me."

"Alright, thank you, Naruto-kun, for answering my questions," he said. "I want you to rest for the rest of the day after you finish with my doctor. Tomorrow, I want you to come and get your picture taken and turn in your shinobi registration. I also want you to meet me here at 9 o'clock to test and see if you have the Byakugan. The following day head to the Academy at 10 o'clock for team assignments."

"Okay, thanks, Jiichan."


	3. Chapter 3: Byakugan

Naruto was waiting in the Hokage's office for Hinata to arrive. She was a little bit early because she was excited to see if she had a bloodline ability. The doctor had said that the slit on her forehead hid a third eye but Naruto had not been able to open it. The registration had gone well. She had been tempted to do something silly, like cover herself in face paint, but she was too nervous about meeting the Hyuuga that would teach her how to activate her eyes—assuming she had the Byakugan. The Hyuuga were known to be entirely too serious. If she had known it would be Hinata she might have tried anyway. She had caught the shy girl giggling at some of her pranks.

There was a knock at the door and Hinata entered. "Hello, Hokage-sama" she said with a slight stutter. The dark-haired girl looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto-chan?"

"Yeah, it's me. I got kidnapped the day of the Gennin Exam and the kipnappers did something to me that made me look a little different."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I was kidnapped when I was three years old, but my father saved me before I was taken from the village." Hinata poked her index fingers together nervously.

Naruto took a closer look at Hinata's eyes. They really did look similar, except that Hinata's had a pale lavender cast to them, while Naruto's had a pale blue cast.

"As you can see Naruto-kun's eyes now look remarkably like the Byakugan. We'd like to test to see if this is true. Would you please teach her how to activate the Byakugan?" asked the Hokage.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Hinata said. She turned to Naruto. "These are the hand seals." She demonstrated the Horse, modified Tiger, modified Boar, Hare, Rat, Dog, Horse, Dog, Hare, Rat, modified Boar, and modified Snake hand seals. "After you do them you direct chakra to your eyes. "Once you get used to it you can do it with less hand seals or even none. Even though I can do it without hand seals, I usually use just the last one because it takes less concentration. I recommend that you practice the hand seal series before trying to add chakra."

Naruto concentrated because the number of hand seals was larger than the four techniques she knew of and some of them were nonstandard. She kept repeating the hand seals with Hinata offering gentle correction. After about 10 minutes she tried it with chakra. She felt something, but her vision did not change. She kept at it for another 10 minutes until her vision altered. Everything became pale and transparent. Glowing networks within Hinata and the Hokage stood out. She noticed that she could see other people in the building along with their chakra networks. She could focus on different areas at different distances.

"Yatta!" she exclaimed. "It worked! Wow, this is cool, Hinata-chan. Thank you."

"Congratulations, Naruto-chan. I would practice until you can do it with just the final hand seal and until you can focus on several areas at once. When you're used to looking only straight ahead, looking all around can be disorienting."

The Third Hokage smiled. "I offer my congratulations too. Now, Naruto, even though you have the Byakugan, you are not a Hyuuga. If any Hyuuga give you grief and try and get you to do something you don't want to, let me know. Conversely, you are not entitled to the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist Techniques. Please do not ask Hinata or anyone else to teach you. Hinata, please do not offer your clan techniques without explicit permission from your father as clan head."

Naruto felt like she would burst and her cheeks were starting to ache from the wide smile she had. Hinata smiled shyly at her, looking pleased that her friend was happy. Naruto thought it would be nice to have clan techniques, but just having a bloodline ability was awesome.

"I would like to have you meet with Hyuuga-san this afternoon so that he isn't blind-sided by you having the same bloodline. If you go out this afternoon, leave a Shadow Clone at your apartment so that I can tell you when to come. However, before you go, I have that picture to show you and, if you're good, I'll tell you a couple of stories."

"Yatta," exclaimed Naruto.

* * *

Naruto was back in the Hokage's office. She was not as prompt this time. She had not enjoyed her experiences with any Hyuuga other than Hinata and what she had heard of Hinata's father had not endeared him to her. Still, she did not want to disappoint the Hokage too much so she arrived only a minute or two later than she was expected.

She was not going to change the way she talked though. "Hi, Jiichan," she said.

"Naruto-kun," said the Hokage, "thank you for coming. Have you met Hyuuga Hiashi-san before?"

Hiashi nodded his head slightly in greeting, but did not say anything. He looked entirely too serious. "Nope," she said cheerfully, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm in your daughter's class."

"Naruto-kun was kidnapped by some missing nin recently through the actions of a traitor. The missing nin did something to her that changed her appearance and gave her the Byakugan bloodline. As you can see she managed to escape."

"Are we sure it's the Byakugan rather than just a cosmetic change?" the Hyuuga Clan Head asked.

"Yes, at my instruction, your daughter showed Naruto-kun the hand seals and they worked. Before you say anything Hiashi-san, I also instructed Naruto-kun that she was not to seek instruction in the Gentle Fist or other Hyuuga Clan techniques without your approval which I do not expect you to give because she is not Hyuuga."

Naruto demonstrated her ability to use the Byakugan.

"So they are not an implant?" the Hyuuga asked with confusion.

"No," Naruto explained, "they did something to my chakra because it was similar to a woman named Outsutsuki Kaguya."

"Odd. Our clan legends say that that the Hyuuga are descended from Outsutsuki Hamura, the brother of the Rikudou Sennin." He hesitated for a moment. "Clan history also says that those who did not inherit Hamura-sama's eyes in the early days of the clan left to form the Kaguya Clan, but it does not say why they chose that name. Please do not spread around that we are related to those barbarians, even if it is distantly."

"Could this Outsutsuki Kaguya have been one of those who left the Hyuuga?" asked the Third.

"It is doubtful," responded Hiashi. "Clan history tells the names of all that left the clan to form the Kaguya and I would remember if one of them was actually named Kaguya. Is it possible she has Hyuuga blood?"

"Not closely," the Hokage answered. "I know who her parents and grandparents were. However, due to my wife I know some of the Senju Clan History, and according to the Senju, they, the Uzumaki, and the Uchiha are descended from the Rikudou Sennin, Outsutsuki Hagoromo."

"So she is a true Uzumaki?"

"Yes," answered the Hokage, "but please don't spread that around. The identities of her parents are S-Class Secrets for Naruto-kun's safety."

"Interesting," Hiashi said.

"Hiashi-san, I brought you here to see if you had any insight and as a courtesy, since people have already mistaken Naruto-kun for a Hyuuga. I also want you to warn the more reactionary elements of your clan not to hurt or try and pressure her. Also tell your clan elders that if she receives the Caged Bird Seal, I will execute all of them."

"Very well. Thank you for the courtesy and I will pass on your warnings." He bowed and left.

Naruto also left, but nearly ran into Uchiha Sasuke, who was waiting with what looked like his shinobi registration. Not wanting to deal with her broody classmate, she merely said, "Hi". The Uchiha grunted at her.

Not having anything to do, she just wandered aimlessly. She got some weird looks from the villagers, probably due to the rabbit-ear-shaped horns on her head. From her espionage practice, she knew that people were so used to identifying her by her orange jumpsuit. She figured that her coloration changes probably did not register with them. She absently played around with her Byakugan. She could barely feel the chakra drain. She thought she could probably keep it up indefinitely, but she had to admit that the bulging veins near the eyes made it look freaky when she stopped to look at herself in the window of an abandoned store.

Eventually she ended back near the Academy and saw a boy three or four years younger than her sitting on a swing brooding. He had dark hair and eyes and was wearing a blue scarf. She had been doing the same thing after she failed the genin exam. Was it only four days ago?

"Hey, kid," she said. "Why so down?"

"Who are you calling 'kid?'" he protested loudly. "You aren't much older than me!"

Naruto flicked the Leaf Badge resting on her forehead. "This says I can call you kid, kid" she said proudly. "Besides, I'm much older than you. I'm just a little bit short."

He pouted. "Stupid Jiichan won't let me be a shinobi. How am I supposed to get everyone to respect me if he doesn't?"

"Really?" she said surprised. "No one respects me either, but I worked really hard and now I'm a shinobi. They'll totally respect me now! One more step closer to being Hokage!"

"No way!" he shouted. "I'm going to be the next Hokage! I'll defeat Jiichan and then he'll have to give me the Hat!"

"Silly kid," she said, "you can't be Hokage just be beating the Old Man once. You have to be the strongest, and that takes lots of work."

They lapsed into silence until Naruto asked, "So why don't they respect you?"

The boy sighed, "My grandpa, the Third Hokage, had me named Konohamaru, but nobody calls me that. It's always 'Honorable Grandson' this, 'Honorable Grandson' that. They respect me only for Jiichan. I want to be respected for myself." He looked at her. "Why don't they respect you?"

She touched the birthmarks on her right cheek. "I'm an orphan with nobody that cares for me other than the Hokage and maybe three others. My birthmarks remind people of a tragedy and they hate me or ignore me for it. But I won't let that stop me!"

Konohamaru pumped his first in the air and yelled in wordless agreement. After a moment he said, "Do you know the Uchiha boy? I ran into him at Jiichan's office. He completely ignored me. That was even worse than being 'Honorable Grandsoned.'"

She laughed. "I know him. He was in my class. Don't feel too bad. He does that to everyone." She leaned in closer. "Do you know what I do when they ignore me?"

He shook his head.

"I'm not known as the 'Prankster Queen of Konoha' for nothing!" she bragged.

"Can you give me some tips, Boss?" he asked.

"Can you do the Disguise Technique yet?"

He shook his head. "Teach me, Boss!"

"For a successful prank, you have to decide if you want them to _know_ it was you, _suspect_ it was you, or be clueless. Disguise is the key to this."

"Wouldn't I want to fool them completely every time?"

"It depends. If you want them to notice you, they need to at least guess it was you. My favorite pranks are when they suspect it's me, but for them to suspect, you need to build up a rep first by being seen a few times. I also like to let them chase me for a little bit then hid using Disguise, and then let them chase me some more."

Konohamaru was listening raptly.

"You also need to be careful not to do anything too bad," She said, "Most of the time anything beyond a minor aggravation is bad news."'

Naruto spent the next hour teaching him the Disguise Technique. The boy was just starting to get it down when she got hungry enough to go look for Iruka to see if she could get some free ramen out of him.

* * *

Iruka was glad to see that she was okay. He was a little disturbed by the cosmetic changes, but amazed that she had the Byakugan. She ate 4 bowls of ramen. Iruka joked that she ate her body weight in ramen. The Ichirakus had not known about the kidnapping, but were glad to see she came out of it mostly unscathed.


	4. Chapter 4: Team Seven

As Naruto ran toward the Academy for team assignments she figured she had two options. She could burst in loudly to try and grab everyone's attention or she could sneak in which might have more prank potential. If she were trying to grab a specific person's attention, she might try the first option, but she was not interested in attention from boys due to some bad experiences and none of the girls with the exception of Hinata were nice to her. Loud and proud would just embarrass Hinata, so she decided to do sneaky.

She ran up behind the Academy and climbed a tree near the wall to get onto the roof. She used the Disguise Technique to change into a little brown mouse. She had noticed that none of the other kids could do this, they only did other people. She scurried through the ventilation system until she got to her classroom. She snuck into the back corner and waited until most of the class was there, but Iruka was not. She changed back into herself sat down next to Hinata with a smile. Hinata gave a quiet "eep" which Akamaru noticed. Kiba and his puppy were sitting right in front of her.

Kiba turned and said loudly, "What are you doing here Naruto-san?"

She gave him a grin and said just as loudly, "You didn't notice the shinobi in the bright orange jumpsuit?"

By this time the whole class was watching them. Kiba spluttered and said, "You aren't a shinobi, Naruto-san. You failed the test."

Naruto tapped her Leaf Badge. "I thought you Inuzuka were supposed to be observant. It turns out that Mizuki was sabotaging my test scores and Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiichan re-evaluated me and passed me. You should know that there was no way a shinobi as awesome as me could have really failed."

Kiba snorted. "Yeah, right. You'd still be the Dead Last. I'll believe you could pass when I see it!"

Naruto smirked. "You mean you wouldn't see it, right?"

Hinata giggled and then eeped again when Naruto and Kiba looked at her. In reality Naruto got along with Kiba well enough, but they had a fun time baiting each other.

"Hey, Naruto-san," Kiba said. "What's up with those ear things on your head? And why are you all pasty white now? The kill-me orange jumpsuit not getting you enough attention?"

Naruto sighed. She could see most of the class listening in. "The reason they knew to investigate Mizuki was that he got me captured by some missing nin. They had me for three days before I escaped. While I was captured they did something to me that changed my coloring and the 'ear things' are horns that grew because of that."

"Bummer," Kiba said. "I'm glad you escaped, although they must not have been that tough if the Dead Last got away."

Chouji and Shikamaru also chimed in here to say they were glad she had escaped.

By this time the daily feud over who got to sit next to the Uchiha was nearing its climax. Ino and Sakura were arguing with a third fangirl whose name Naruto could not be bothered to remember and who had managed to get the coveted seat.

Iruka entered the classroom and used his Big Head Technique to quiet everyone down.

"Congratulations on becoming shinobi," Iruka began. Naruto only gave him half her attention as he talked about there new responsibilities and started announcing the teams.

The first six teams contained civilian or non-clan kids. They treated her much worse than the clan kids, so she ignored them in return. She only remembered Sakura's name because of the one day she had been friendly and then how awful she had treated her since. Naruto had to admit to herself that sometimes she sought Sakura out when she the pain of being lonely outweighed the pain of insults. It was something she was not proud of.

". . . Hyuuga Hinata-san, Uchiha Sasuke-san, and Uzumaki Naruto-san will be Team 7. . ." At this point Iruka was interrupted by the screeches of the fangirls.

"No way!" yelled Sakura who drowned out the others. "Dog Face and Stutters don't deserve. . ."

"Sakura-san!" interrupted Iruka with his Big Head Technique. "Such insults are unbecoming of a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato! Did you completely ignore what I just said about you all being comrades?"

"But. . ."

"If I hear another insult out of you, I will put a complaint in your official file! Your foolish infatuation is likely to get you killed. I will be talking with your sensei, as well as those of several others, to help you grow out of this dangerous phase."

He took a deep breath. "As I was saying, the Jounin Sensei for Team 7 is Hatake Kakashi-san."

Naruto absently noted which teams her friendlier acquaintances were on: Kiba and Shino were stuck with Sakura and Chouji and Shikamaru with Ino. She was glad she was with Hinata. Sasuke would be a pain, but she could bear it as long as their sensei was decent.

* * *

Most of the new genin had met their senseis after lunch. Two hours after everyone else had left with their sensei, Naruto was already regretting hers. After all those questions, she would have thought that Jiichan was serious about getting her a good one. Sasuke was sitting off by himself brooding. She and Hinata had talked for a while, but they had run out of small talk.

"Do you know anything about this Hatake Kakashi-san, Hinata-chan?" she asked.

"Well," the dark-haired girl responded quietly, "he's the jounin that always wears a mask and his Leaf Badge covers one eye. I've heard my clansmen say he's very skilled but irreverent. He's always late and he's always reading dirty books."

"Hey, I've seen that guy around and I know what he looks like. Maybe one of us should go look for him?"

"Knowing you, Dead Last," Sasuke spoke up for the first time. "He'd show up just after you left."

"Hah, I'll just use my awesome new technique to look for him." She summoned six Shadow Clones. "I wonder if my clones can use the Byakugan? Give it a try, girls."

The six clones flew through the hand signs and activated their Byakugan. "Awesome," Naruto yelled. "Head out and look for him!"

"Since when do you have a Bloodline, Dead Last?" Sasuke asked.

"Since I was kidnapped by missing nin," she replied.

"They randomly decided to give you Hyuuga eyes?" he said in disbelief.

"Nah, they did something to my chakra. I talked to Hokage-jiichan and Hinata-chan's dad and they think I'm distantly related to the Hyuuga and whatever they did awoke some long-dormant genes."

Sasuke grunted in either acknowledgment or disbelief. Naruto didn't know him well enough to know the difference.

"I'm distantly related to you too, you know," she said.

He stared at her. She smirked. "Hokage-jiichan said that Senju legend says that the Uzumaki, the Senju, and the Uchiha are all descended from the Rikudou Sennin. Hyuuga legend says that they are descended from the Sennin's brother."

"Family stories do say that the Uchiha were descended from him," he said finally, "but if the Senju were as well, why did they fight with us all the time?"

"Jiichan said that it started with an inheritance squabble."

He grunted. "Well, don't think it means anything. A common ancestor 500 years ago makes us, what? 25th cousins? Give or take a few. Might as well not be related."

She did not have anything to say to that, so they went back to ignoring each other. After a while she had memories of her clone finding him at the Memorial Stone. She had looked at it before to see if she could find any Uzumaki names on it before. There had been a few and she had memorized them all. Kushina had been one of them.

"One of my clones found our delinquent sensei at the Memorial Stone."

"How'd you know a clone found him, Dead Last?" asked Sasuke. He sounded curious despite himself.

"Shadow Clones are awesome!" she said. "When one dispels, I get her memories."

"Can you teach it to me?" asked Sasuke with interest.

"Sorry, Hokage-jiichan made me promise not to teach it to another genin. If you don't have enough chakra you can die of chakra exhaustion. The only reason I can do it is because I have jounin-level chakra reserves."

"You have jounin-level chakra reserves?" asked Sasuke incredulously.

"Yeah, that's why I could never do the normal Clone Technique. I have too much chakra to control it easily. Evidently it's a common problem for Uzumaki."

Sasuke grunted. He looked a little perturbed that there was something that she could do that he could not.

"Should we go run him down or should I have my clones harass him until he comes here?" Naruto asked trying to distract Sasuke from his pouting.

"Um, Naruto-chan," Hinata stuttered poking her index fingers together, "he could get angry at us for either of those."

"Hmmff, I really don't think he deserves any considerations for being over two hours late."

"I agree with the Dead Last," Sasuke said. "Can you have your clones keep an eye on him so we don't miss him?"

"Yes." She made a clone and it dismissed immediately. "Give me a few minutes to make sure my other clones get there to make sure he hasn't left."

"Okay," she said a few minutes later. "My clones are monitoring him from a distance with the Byakugan."

"Leave one here too, in case he gets around us," Sasuke suggested.

"I'll do better than that," she said with a smirk. She created three clones and had two of them disguise themselves as Hinata and Sasuke. The Hinata-disguised clone activated her Byakugan, but lost it after about five seconds.

"Oh, that's hard to do," the dark-haired girl clone said. "Maintaining both skills at once."

"I'll have to practice," Naruto murmured to herself.

* * *

The three new genin approached the Memorial Stone.

"How should we do this?" asked Hinata stuttering.

"I figure we have three choices," Naruto said. "We can approach him like we were supposed to meet here. We can scream and yell at him for not coming to us like he was supposed to. Or we can play the hurt students and try to guilt him into be on time next time."

Both Hinata and Sasuke were looking at her incredulously.

"What?" she said. "I'm an orphan girl that nobody likes. I had a few close calls when I was younger where I would have ended up in raped, or worse, if ANBU hadn't saved me. I've learned I have to be careful in new situations. Just because I act like an idiot, doesn't mean I really am."

Hinata looked sad, but Sasuke still looked like he did not believe her.

"Believe it or not, when I was younger I tried to be a good student, but the teachers all ignored me and treated me suspiciously. I actually get treated better if I act like an idiot. I might be tempted to make the mask real if it weren't for the real risk that being stupid carries for a girl who's all alone."

"So, do you know why no one likes you?" Sasuke finally asked.

"I just barely found out during the kidnapping incident. And let me tell you how unpleasant it is to have almost everyone hate you without knowing why. All I'm going to tell you is that it had something to do with what happened the day I was born. I'll tell you more when, or if, we become real friends and teammates."

Sasuke grunted. Hinata still looked sad.

Finally Hinata said, "Um, I think we should do the first option. I don't think we'll be able to guilt a jounin, especially not from what I know of Kakashi-sensei's reputation, but we might be able to impress him."

Sasuke grunted. "I think the Hyuuga's right."

"Probably," said Naruto, "but screaming and yelling would be satisfying, at least."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and led the two girls closer to the Stone. They stopped a few paces behind him. He continued to ignore them. Naruto elbowed Sasuke in the side.

He glared at her, but said, "Sensei, we're here for our introduction."

Nothing happened for ten seconds. Then Kakashi turned around and his visible eye closed like he was smiling. "I'm so happy that my cute little genin have come to seek me out. Have a seat, so we can get to know one another." He dropped to the ground and sat. The three twelve-year olds followed his example.

"How about you introduce yourselves: name, likes, dislikes, goals, things like that," the Jounin said.

Naruto decided to go first. She said animatedly, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, especially from the Ichiraku stand, and Hokage-jiichan. I dislike the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook and people who can't tell the difference between a sealing scroll and what's inside it. My goal is to be an awesome shinobi and the best Hokage ever, so that people will respect me!"

When neither of the other two immediately followed, Kakashi pointed to Sasuke and said, "You next, Broody."

Sasuke grunted and said, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything and there are many things I dislike. My goal-no my ambition-because I will accomplish it, is to kill a certain man and rebuild my clan."

Kakashi turned to Hinata.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata," she stuttered. "I like pressing flowers and my sister. I dislike the way my clan treats the Branch House and I hope to change it some day. My goal is to be a strong shinobi so that I won't disappoint my father."

Naruto frowned at Hinata's brief description of her home life. The three of them waited. Finally Naruto said, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself, Sensei?"

He gave them the weird eye smile again and said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. It's probably not appropriate to tell you my likes. I dislike people who abandon their comrades. Umm, goals. . . Yeah, I probably shouldn't tell you those, either."

The three genin blinked at each other. At least they got one tidbit besides his name.

"I suppose I should tell you what we're doing tomorrow," Kakashi said. "Meet at 7 o'clock in the morning at Training Ground 7 prepared for a survival exercise." He pointed to some posts not far from the Memorial. "I recommend that you skip breakfast so that you don't puke. The results of the exercise will determine whether you really become genin, whether you get sent back to the Academy, or whether you are dismissed from the program."

"What!?" yelled Naruto. "We just took an exam for that!"

"That was just to weed out those who were really unsuited," said Kakashi.

"Or had too much chakra," Naruto mumbled under her breath.

"I should warn you," continued Kakashi, "that this test has a 66-percent failure rate." He then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Sasuke stood up and walked off.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other. Finally Hinata poked her fingers together and said, "I should go and report to my father."

Naruto sighed. She had hoped to be able to spend time with her team and get to know them better, but she couldn't think of any reason that Hinata should put off reporting to her father for. "Okay, Hinata-chan. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Naruto-chan. I'm glad I'm on your team."

"Me too."

* * *

That afternoon and evening, Naruto practiced doing the Byakugan and the Disguise Technique at the same time. She had a few clones practice too, since she figured that she would have her clones doing it as well, since it was a pretty awesome spy technique and she didn't know if it was more or less difficult for Shadow Clones. After a few hours it became easy enough that she and her clones could do it well enough.


	5. Chapter 5: The Bell Test

At 6 o'clock Naruto sent 20 clones under the Disguise Technique to the training ground while she got ready and ate breakfast. She arrived shortly before they were due. Both of her teammates were already there. Half of her clones dispelled to let her know the layout of the training ground and to let her know they had not found any traps.

"What are the odds he's on time today?" she asked.

"Not good," Hinata said poking her fingers. "A girl in my clan who has a brother who is a chuunin warned me he has never passed a genin team and that he likes to play head games."

"What else do we know about him?" Naruto asked. "He did say yesterday that he dislikes those that abandon their comrades."

"His nicknames are 'the Copy Nin' and 'Sharingan no Kakashi,'" Hinata said. "He's rumored to have copied a thousand techniques."

"Sharingan!?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "He's not an Uchiha."

"I asked about that too," Hinata responded. "Evidently it was given to him by a dying Uchiha teammate and he keeps it under his Leaf Badge while he's not using it."

"What does the Sharingan do?" Naruto asked.

"It's the Uchiha bloodline ability," Sasuke asked. "It allows its bearer to predict movement, including hand signs, and to remember and reproduce techniques that it sees. It also helps with making and dispelling genjutsu."

"Wow, that's useful," Naruto said. "I bet the copying aspect of it made your clan really unpopular though."

He just smirked as if he did not care what the peons thought.

"Well, once you awaken your Sharingan, we'll be Team Doujutsu," Naruto said thoughtfully.

Hinata brought out a couple of bentos. "Have either of you eaten yet?"

Naruto laughed. "I forgot that he said not to."

Sasuke shook his head.

"I think you should eat, Sasuke-kun," Hinata said. "Like I said, he's known for playing head games. I think it's more likely that you'll need the energy than that you will vomit."

Naruto and Hinata chatted on and off for the next three hours with Sasuke occasionally joining in. Finally, Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves.

Kakashi placed a clock on one of the posts. "The alarm is set for noon," he said. "Which means you have about two hours to complete the exercise." He held up two bells. "Whoever gets a bell passes the tests. If you don't have a bell, then you'll be sent back to the Academy or dismissed from the program." He pulled out a couple of bentos. "I also brought some lunch to share with those who get bells. If you don't get a bell, I'll tie you to one of the posts. Any questions?"

"Umm, Sensei," Hinata stuttered, poking her fingers together, "why are there only two bells?"

Kakashi hummed to himself. "I don't really feel like teaching, so I decided to make it easier on me and harder on you guys."

Naruto could not help but wonder if the lack of a third bell was a plot to avoid passing her. The whole thing seemed off, but she could not put her finger on why. She looked at her prospective teammates. Hinata seemed thoughtful, but Sasuke just seemed excited in his understated manner. Naruto decided she needed to talk to Hinata. If she had to choose a teammate she would rather have her anyway.

"Ready, set, go!" shouted Kakashi.

Hinata and Sasuke ran off to find a spot to hide. Naruto did the Shadow Clone Technique, keeping her plan in mind. One of her clones immediately dispelled. She felt chakra from one of her clones engulf her and she let it take her. She saw that she was now hiding in the bushes. Her plan to have one of her cones do the Replacement Technique with her had worked. She activated her Byakugan so that she could find Hinata while her clones tried to loudly distract Kakashi.

She quickly located Hinata and made her way to her. "Hey, Hinata-chan," she said quietly. "Do you find something fishy about this test?"

By this time, Naruto was getting memories from dispelled clones. Kakashi was not taking them seriously at all. He was reading from an orange-covered book rather than paying attention to their taijutsu fight.

"Yes," she said shyly. "There are never any teams with less than three genin. Also, didn't he say that he hates those that abandon their comrades, yesterday?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, "and how could he be our teacher if we could already beat him?"

"It seems reasonable that we're supposed to work together. He never said that we couldn't team up and share a bell," Hinata said with a small amount of confidence. "Should we go find Sasuke-san?"

"I don't think he will work with us," Naruto said doubtfully, "but I guess we should at least ask."

By this time all of Naruto's visible clones had been defeated and one of her hidden ones had formed a clone which had dispelled to let her know which way he had gone.

Naruto, who had kept her Byakugan active, searched her field of vision until she found Sasuke. He seemed to be buried in a hole up to his neck. Kakashi was taunting him. As she watched their prospective sensei walked off.

"He's this way," she said, pointing.

Hinata also activated her bloodline ability and the two of them walked toward Sasuke, avoiding Kakashi who was wandering between the trees of the training ground with his nose in the book. After a few minutes they approached Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke-san," Naruto said, deciding to be polite for once. "Hinata and I've talked and we think there's something fishy about this test. We've noticed three inconsistencies: first, yesterday he said he hates those that abandon their comrades; second, there are never any teams with only one or two genin, it's always three; and last, if he could really be beaten by a single fresh-from-the-Academy genin, do you really think he would be a worthy teacher?"

Sasuke grunted in annoyance. "Very well. Dig me out."

Naruto summoned a bunch of clones and they started to dig him out.

"How should we do this?" Naruto asked once they had freed the Uchiha boy.

"Even with the three of us, I think this will be hard," Hinata said nervously. "Kakashi-sensei is one of the top jounin in Konoha."

"We'll need a distraction," Sasuke said.

"Distractions are one of my specialties," Naruto said. "I can make a bunch of Shadow Clones. If I disguise a third of them as each of you, then you guys can sneak into position more easily. Hinata, I practiced the Byakugan with Disguise last night and got it down, so you can use yours."

"How many clones?" Sasuke asked.

"Thirty each?" said Naruto. "I can make more, but I don't want to swamp the place. I recommend you don't go in right away, since when I tried before he went through my clones very quickly. I can also disguise my clones as cats or some other smallish animal to sneak up and make a try at the bells."

"Dead Last," Sasuke lectured, "even if you manage to make a clone look like a cat, it will still be the same size as you."

"It won't," Naruto protested. "I do things like this all the time. It's one of the techniques I use to hide when I prank. Sneaking into small places is very useful."

"Dead Last, why do you think it's called Disguise Technique?" he retorted.

"Oh," she replied, "I've always wondered about that. Now that I think about it, doing a human-sized Disguise takes me as much chakra as a Shadow Clone and doing a rat-sized one takes ten times as much. If what the Hokage told me was right then most Academy students shouldn't be able to do it. Now that I think about it, I couldn't ever get it to work and no one would help me, so I just kept adding chakra until it worked."

"Can you do the technique now?" Hinata asked.

"Sure."

Hinata activated her bloodline ability and Naruto changed into a cat.

"Even though the hand signs are the same as the normal Disguise, your chakra is compressing oddly at the end and you're using much, much more than for a normal Disguise. I can't tell how you're compressing the chakra though, so I couldn't reproduce it. The Byakugan doesn't work that way."

Sasuke grunted. "Leave it to the Dead Last to stumble into a new technique. She can't do anything simple, but can evidently do hard things easily."

Naruto stuck out her tongue. "I'm too awesome for the standard Clone or Disguise, Jerk."

"Are you going to rediscover Hiraishin while botching a Replacement, Dead Last?"

"Maybe I will, Jerk!"

"Umm," Hinata interrupted nervously, "I think what we've talked about is a good idea."

"Okay," Sasuke said. "We'll send in the Dead Last's clones six at a time. I'll be hidden in the fourth group and do a Fireball Technique. After it dissipates Hinata-san will come in with the next group and try and use the Gentle Fist on him. Check for Replacement use. He used it on me when I almost got him with a Fireball before. While he's busy with Hinata-san, the Dead Last will send in a couple of cats to try and cut the bells and grab them. You might want to be one of them, but probably not the first one."

"Sound good, Jerk," Naruto said.

"I agree," said Hinata.

Naruto made 183 clones. Three of them Disguised themselves as cats. A third of the remainder Disguised themselves as Hinata and a third as Sasuke. About half of the Hinata clones activated their Byakugan.

"Hey, Naruto-san," said Sasuke, "do you know the Fire Lord's wife's cat, Tora?"

"Yeah. I've seen genin chasing her. The only time I've heard shinobi complain more than that is when they were chasing me." She smirked.

"Can you make one of the cats Tora?" he smirked. "Maybe with a genin team chasing her?"

"Not bad, Sasuke-san. I'll make a prankster out of you yet!"

He grunted in response.

"Do either of you know a genin team that I can impersonate?"

"Umm, my cousin is a genin and I've seen his teammates," said Hinata.

"Can you Disguise into them, one at a time, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata changed into a tallish boy about their age with long dark hair and Hyuuga eyes. "This is my cousin, Neji. He fights using the Gentle Fist."

One of Naruto's clones changed into him.

She changed into a boy with a tight green jumpsuit and bushy eyebrows. "This is his male teammate. I don't know his name, but I think he's also a taijutsu expert."

"Whoa, eyebrows!" commented Naruto as one of her clones transformed into him.

Lastly, she changed into a girl with her brown hair done up in two buns wearing a pink sleeveless blouse. "I don't know her name either, but she seemed to specialize in thrown weapons."

A Naruto clone changed into her as well.

"We ready?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke grunted and Hinata nodded.

Naruto said, "We'll split into six groups so we can come at him from all sides."

The clones all split up with half of those appearing as each genin gathering together. The three real genin candidates went with one of the groups of clones that looked like them. They surrounded the clearing where Kakashi was reading his book.

Naruto realized they had forgotten to make a signal to start, so she rapidly made and dispelled a clone to let the other groups no to start in 10 seconds. After she had counted 10, one of her clones ran forward. Naruto saw that five other clones were rushing in too.

Kakashi made quick work of the clones, but a second group was already starting in. After the third group, she sent in Tora and the mock genin team. The Tora clone ran right at Kakashi with the 3 fake genin running after her. Kakashi jumped out of the way, but the fake cat changed directions and ran at him. By this time the fourth clone group entered the fray. One of the Sasukes opened up with a Fireball which Kakashi escaped via Replacement, but it took out cat and team clones. This allowed Hinata in the fifth group to get a hit in which closed one of his tenketsu. Kakashi quickly recovered and was easily holding his own against her. The sixth group of clones went in and Naruto changed into a cat.

The three cats ran toward Kakashi's back. One of them once again looked like Tora. The first cat jumped at the bells and swiped at the strings tying them, but cat claws are made to puncture and not cut, so she ended up batting the bells. The second cat grabbed a bell in her mouth and managed to break the string, however, Kakashi dispelled her and the bell dropped. The real Naruto made a dive for it but was batted away.

The remaining clones kept coming in their groups and Sasuke made another try to cook Kakashi with a Fireball, but they did not get any closer. They stopped to regroup, but the alarm sounded and time was up.

"Well now," said Kakashi with his closed-eye smile. "That was refreshing. Come with me and we'll debrief the exercise.

Naruto dragged herself back to the posts where they had originally met, following Kakashi and the others. She was feeling discouraged. Hinata looked like she was about to hyperventilate. Sasuke looked irritated.

"So, do any of you want to explain what you did wrong?" Kakashi asked lightly.

"Nothing!" snapped Naruto. "If all three of us working together couldn't get them, I don't see how this is a legitimate test! Did you make it impossible because or me?"

"Do all of you think that?" asked Kakashi.

"Yes, minus the Dead Last's delusions about her own notoriety," drawled Sasuke.

Hinata nodded.

"What do you think the purpose of the test was?" asked their sensei.

"So it wasn't the bells?" asked Hinata nervously.

Kakashi shook his head.

Naruto's pulse quickened as she realized they still had a chance. "It was teamwork, wasn't it?" she blurted out.

Kakashi nodded. Sasuke grunted.

"You object?" Kakashi asked Sasuke.

"Teamwork won't help me with my ambition," he replied.

"That is manifestly false," Kakashi said. "You were much closer to beating me with Naruto and Hinata than you were by yourself. It would be the same with _that man_."

Sasuke growled. "It's something I have to do myself. I have to prove I'm better than _him_. If I have help, it won't be _me_ avenging _my_ family."

Kakashi sighed. "I'll be honest with you, Sasuke-kun. _That man_ is one of the top ten, if not top five, shinobi that Konoha has ever produced and he hasn't stopped getting better since that night. If you work hard, you could equal or surpass him in five or ten years. If you have a team that you can trust, you can easily reduce that time by half or more."

"But he was only 14 when he slaughtered our clan!" Sasuke shouted.

"Sasuke-kun, he didn't defeat them in open combat. He caught them unawares. I _know_ you want him to know you are the one to kill him, so the same conditions don't apply. Plus, Konoha made a conscious decision to not allow people to advance when they are that young after Itachi went rogue in order to prevent another tragedy. You don't want to be another Itachi, do you Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke grunted and then turned his head away. "He said I didn't have enough hate to defeat him."

Naruto reached over and bopped him on the head. "Idiot, why are you listening to him? You can't trust that he isn't trying to sabotage you!"

"What do you know, Dead Last?" he snarled.

"I know about hate! I've been hated my whole life. I didn't even know why until a couple of days ago! When I was five, I got sick of it and started hating everyone back. I noticed that when I snarled back at someone who was rude to me they had a satisfied look in their eyes, like I was confirming that I deserved to be hated. Then Jiichan took me to Ichiraku's and they treated me well, so I let go of my hate while I was there. I saw that I felt better when I was at Ichiraku's and I decided that I wouldn't let the haters ruin my life. I still get back at the worst of them, but I don't let it stop me from being happy. And do you know what? Living well really is the best revenge. Instead of the satisfied glint in their eyes, I saw frustration when they realized that they weren't going to keep Uzumaki Naruto down!"

"So you think I should be a cheerful idiot like you?"

"Well, the idiot part is optional. Let me put it this way. Itachi wants you to obsess about him. When you can't stop thinking about him, you're doing what he wants. Sure, get vengeance or justice for your family, but don't do what he told you to do. If you want help, Hinata-chan and I have got your back. Right, Hinata-chan?" Hinata nodded shyly. "And when Kakashi-sensei shows up two hours after Itachi is dead, he'll totally take us out for dinner. Right, Sensei?"

"I haven't said whether you've passed or not, Naruto-chan," Kakashi admonished.

"Ah, come on. We showed awesome teamwork," she protested.

"Well, I don't know about awesome, but you did work together. I guess. . . you pass!"

Naruto jumped up and shouted. Hinata smiled. Sasuke smirked.

"I suppose I can let you share these." He handed them two bentos. "Meet here tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock." He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The three newly confirmed genin shared there lunches. Hinata and Naruto talked to each other with an occasional comment from Sasuke before they separated and went back to their homes.


	6. Chapter 6: Training

The next morning the three genin met at the appointed time. Kakashi showed up 40 minutes later.

"Are you seriously going to be late every time?" Naruto yelled.

"Well, you see. . ." he started.

"Are you completely lacking in common courtesy?" Naruto interrupted.

"Of course," Kakashi said with a closed-eye smile, "I'm a shinobi and certainly not common."

Naruto rolled her eyes. Sasuke grunted.

Kakashi said, "Think of it as an opportunity to do some individual training and maybe give each other some helpful hints. I ask that you don't spar with each other without supervision yet, but anything else would be great."

"Are you going to train us for real?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "You look like the type to do the bare minimum to avoid getting into trouble with the Hokage."

"Yes, Naruto-chan," he replied. "I will train you 'for real.' To that end, I'd like each of you to give a summary of your skills: ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, weapons skills, or anything else you think makes you a good shinobi. Afterward, I want your teammates to say if they agree or have anything else to add. Sasuke-kun, you go first."

"I know the three Academy techniques and the Fireball Technique. I got 10/10 in the Academy shuriken and kunai tests. I'm also skilled with wire techniques. I'm skilled in the Uchiha family taijutsu style: the Interceptor Fist and the basic Academy style."

"Sounds right to me," said Naruto. Hinata nodded.

"Hinata-chan next," said Kakashi.

Hinata stuttered through her response while poking her fingers. "I know the three Academy techniques. I typically got 8/10 in the Academy shuriken and kunai tests. I'm proficient, but not excellent in the Hyuuga family taijutsu style: the Gentle Fist. I have a range of about 50 meters on my Byakugan."

Sasuke said, "Hinata-san is actually very good with the Gentle Fist forms, but she's too hesitant in using them in actual spars."

Naruto nodded. "Hinata-chan is pretty good, but she could be better if she believed in herself."

"Naruto-chan," prompted Kakashi.

"I'm decent at the Replacement Technique. I rock the Disguise Technique and I can make hundreds of Shadow Clones. I usually get 5/10 in the shuriken and kunai accuracy tests. I won about half of my taijutsu matches. I can see about 100 meters with my Byakugan, but I'm still getting used to focusing on multiple locations and the entire field of view. My clones can see about half that."

Sasuke said, "On the positive side, the Dead Last showed us that she can make physical changes with her Disguise Technique, which we didn't know was possible. However, her taijutsu forms are terrible. She won the matches she won due to endurance and unpredictability rather than skill."

Hinata nodded.

Naruto pouted. "The teachers always ran out of time before they got to me. Only Iruka would try and he would usually get called away by Mizuki."

"Sasuke-kun, Hinata-chan," Kakashi said, "you can help Naruto-chan with the Academy-Style taijutsu and throwing exercises during open training time. Teaching her should help you refresh your own skills more than working by yourselves."

After that, Kakashi evaluated them individually for an hour. He used Shadow Clones for Sasuke and Hinata. Then they did some team exercises. After lunch they did a boring D-rank mission which involved painting a fence. Kakashi prohibited Shadow Clone usage in order to "not cheapen the experience for your teammates." After that Kakashi assigned some hand signal booklets as homework. He also gave Naruto a chakra control exercise to work on before dismissing everyone.

* * *

The genin fell into a routine. Kakashi gave them Wednesdays off for personal training and Sundays off for rest. The other days they trained on their own while waiting for Kakashi to show up 30 to 180 minutes late. Frequently Sasuke or Hinata gave Naruto tips or instructions to help her catch up. Kakashi taught them chakra control and team building. The team building included silent communications, formations, and trust exercises. He also refined the rough spots in their taijutsu and kunai handling. When Hinata mentioned that her family discouraged the use of weapons as anything other than distractions to be thrown, Kakashi stated that there were some occasions when even a chakra-coated fist was contraindicated.

In the afternoons, they did D-rank missions. Kakashi mentioned some of the lessons from the chores that they could apply to higher-rank missions, but the genin were not impressed. After the mission, Kakashi dismissed them with some tips or assignments to work on by themselves.

After two months, Hinata had loosened up compared to how she was in the Academy. She did not stutter as much, although she was still shy. Kakashi was not very generous with his praise, but he was also not as negative as her Hyuuga teachers. Naruto's enthusiasm and praise made up for part of Kakashi's lack. Naruto also insisted that Hinata fight "for real" in their spars which helped her overcome her shyness in battle. Sasuke's irritating condescension when she held back also helped motivate her. Her taijutsu use in spars was now as crisp and fluid as when she was practicing katas by herself. Hinata had quadrupled the range of her Byakugan through practice to 200 meters. She had also gotten better at seeing tenketsu. She claimed this was partly because Naruto's stood out so much and that switching between sparring Naruto and Sasuke taught her what to look for. Hinata's chakra control was good enough that Kakashi said she could be great at genjutsu or medical ninjutsu. Hinata's primary role on the team was as a short-range fighter or bodyguard, since she was the best at taijutsu and had the quickest reaction times.

Sasuke had also loosened up in that he actually spoke sentences and occasionally participated with the girls outside of required team activities. Personally, Naruto and Hinata thought it was because he no longer had to deal with his fangirls as frequently. When Naruto asked him, he said it was because he could see the difference the chakra control exercises were having on the size and number of consecutive fire techniques he could do. He had added the Phoenix Flower Technique to his repertoire from his family technique scrolls. Sasuke's primary role on the team was as a mid-range fighter using his fire techniques and thrown weapons. He also supported Hinata with taijutsu and wire techniques needed.

Naruto had become less loud and manic because she had people paying attention to her. She had tightened up her taijutsu forms. She was still not as good as Sasuke or Hinata in taijutsu, but she managed to surprise them and won the occasional sparring match. She had also improved her chakra control to the point it was as good as Sasuke's. This was mostly due to Kakashi having her use Shadow Clones to practice chakra control. She had greatly improved her kunai and shuriken throwing techniques to the point where she was a better at it than Hinata. Kakashi taught Naruto some Shadow Clone strategies so that she no longer just rushed into a fight. He had her practice the Replacement Technique until she could do it with only one hand seal and recommended that she keep at it until she could do it seal-less. The hundred-clone kunai barrage and sneaky Replacements made her much more dangerous. She also practiced replacing her clones with Sasuke and Hinata. This mainly involved getting them to relax when they felt her chakra engulf them. She could overpower them, but this left them disoriented and Sasuke did not want to use any technique that left him unable to fight, even in retreat. She had improved her Byakugan to the point where she could see a kilometer. She had improved more than Hinata due to the fact that she could keep the bloodline constantly active due to her huge chakra reserves and chakra regeneration rate, if she wanted. Hinata was better at noticing details, however, due to her training and personality. Naruto's primary role on the team was as long-range support using her clones to attack at range and to get Hinata and Sasuke into position or out of danger. She also was the team's primary scout and trap-maker. She had expressed interest to Kakashi about fuuinjutsu, having a personal interest due to her role as a jinchuuriki and what the Hokage had told her about her clan. Kakashi had promised to get her started once her handwriting improved enough.

Although the three had their primary roles, they were all at least proficient at their teammates' roles, although neither Hinata nor Sasuke were as flexible at long range as Naruto despite Sasuke still being the best marksman.

The three genin had talked about asking for a tougher mission after Kakashi had left the previous day. They had all agreed that they were ready, although Sasuke and Naruto could tell that Hinata was a little nervous about it.

As they gathered after lunch, Naruto stepped up to Kakashi with Sasuke and Hinata bracketing her. "Kakashi-sensei," she said firmly, "the three of us have discussed it and we believe that we are ready for a C-rank mission."

"Really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do all of my cute little genin agree?"

Sasuke grunted. "I don't know about cute genin, but Hinata and I agree."

Hinata said, "Yes, Sensei. We all agree."

Kakashi visibly pondered for almost a full minute before finally saying, "Very well. If all my _cute little genin_ agree, we'll ask for a C-rank."

Naruto let out a whoop. Hinata smiled. Sasuke smirked.

They walked to the mission desk at the Hokage Tower. When they got there, Iruka happened to be the chuunin manning the desk. The Hokage was also there, as he was about a third of the time.

"Hello, Team Seven," said the Hokage. "We have missions to obtain goods for an event, renovating a training ground, or grooming some ninken. . ."

"Hokage-sama," said Kakashi. "Team Seven requests a C-rank mission."

Iruka spluttered. "It's barely been two months since they graduated! Plus there was the kidnapping attempt!"

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto scolded, "I'm not going to hide. I want to be a shinobi, for real!"

"Iruka-kun," Kakashi drawled, "I don't think you realize how much _my_ genin have improved. Besides, unless there's a leak in the mission office, it's unlikely we'll see a repeat of Naruto's graduation test. We've also have a protocol in place in the event that something like that happens." The protocol was that Naruto flooded the place with Shadow Clones and Replaced all of the genin to get out of immediate danger. With Sasuke being one of the last potential Sharingan holders and Hinata being a Main-Family Hyuuga, Naruto wasn't the only potential kidnapping target.

The Hokage stared at Kakashi for a moment, who nodded. "Very well," said the Hokage. He looked through a list. "We have an escort mission to Nami no Kuni." He turned to one of the Chunnin near the door and called, "Bring in the bridge builder."

An old drunk man carrying a jar of sake was escorted in. "Tazuna, this is Hatake Kakashi-san and Team Seven. They will be your escort back to Nami no Kuni."

"Bah. They're just a bunch of brats. And why does the pasty white one have those weird ear things on her head? Where are the real shinobi?" the old man complained.

"Bah, this guy's just an old drunk," responded Naruto. "Where's the real client?"

"I'm the super-important super bridge-builder Tazuna. Who are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage! Count on it!"

Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Enough. Tazuna-san, I'll pick you up at your hotel at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Team Seven, be ready at the main village gates at that time." He looked at the mission briefing that Iruka had handed him while Naruto and Tazuna were squabbling. "Pack for three weeks. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

The genin dispersed.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Kakashi acts different than he does in canon because he was threatened with being replaced if he didn't teach them seriously by the Third offscreen. He complies because he does really want to teach Sasuke and Naruto. The Third intervenes because Naruto's kidnapping shows that she needs to get up to speed quickly.

Naruto is a little more cautious and thoughtful than in canon because the world is a more dangerous for a little girl that no one likes.

Sasuke is a opens up sooner than in canon due to the fact that neither Hinata nor Naruto are fangirls and because Naruto shows that she is more skilled in the Bell Test than in the canon one because they work together.

While Hinata still stalked Naruto to a certain extent, because she admired her determination, they're friendlier to each other because there weren't any blushing or fainting episodes like in canon.


	7. Chapter 7: First C-Rank

The next morning the genin were patiently doing chakra control exercises while waiting for Kakashi. They were balancing the points of multiple kunai on their hands using chakra. Hinata was doing six kunai, while Sasuke and Naruto were doing four each. They were amazed when Kakashi showed up with the bridge builder ten minutes after he had told them to meet. After they had passed the Bell Test, he had stopped being horrendously late, but he was always at least 30 minutes late. To be here now, he would have had to have been on time or even early to the hotel!

"Don't be too shocked, my cute little genin," he responded to their open shock. "How can I keep you on your toes if I'm always late?" He paused and then added. "I'm going to leave formation and scouting to the three of you."

"I've got scouting!" said Naruto. She formed her favorite hand sign and summoned 12 Shadow Clones. The clones activated their Byakugan and then Disguised themselves as dogs. "I'll send my clones out in pairs to cover both sides of the road."

Tazuna looked visibly shocked at the display, but kept silent.

"You should check periodically as well, Hinata-chan," said Naruto, "since you're better at noticing details."

"I'll take point," said Sasuke. "Naruto-san, you cover the rear. Hinata-san, you should provide close security to the client."

Kakashi checked them out with the gate guards and they left. Naruto's clones spread out in a loose circle around them out of view of everyone except the two Byakugan users.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened the first day. Hinata chatted with the client a small amount to be polite, but everyone else kept to themselves. At night, Kakashi had the genin each take a three-hour watch shift. The two girls shared a tent and Sasuke shared one with the client. Kakashi slept under the stars. The next day they set out as they had before.

Before they had gone two hours, Naruto felt one of her forward-position clones disperse. There were two shinobi hiding in a puddle about a kilometer ahead.

"Guys!" she called just loud enough for Sasuke in front to hear. "There are two shinobi hiding in a puddle about two kilometers ahead of us! They each have about as much chakra as Sasuke-san, but I couldn't tell anything else."

As they gathered together Kakashi noted, "Sasuke-kun has high reserves for a new genin, so they're likely new chunin or experienced genin. Something you want to tell us, Tazuna-kun?"

Tazuna looked a little nervous, but shrugged. "I've made an enemy of the wealthy Gato. He's been oppressing my country."

"The shipping magnate?" asked Kakashi.

"Yes. He's monopolized all the shipping and his thugs steal from my people or even kill them. I've heard rumors of kidnappings and drug running. My bridge will break his monopoly, so he's been threatening me. He's always used thugs before. I don't know if those shinobi are after me."

"Some one like Gato is wealthy enough to hire shonobi," commented Kakashi.

"He's a miserly scumbag," said Tazuna. "I can't imagine him forking out the money."

"Some people of that type use missing nin, sometimes with the intention of stiffing them," said Kakashi. "Nami no Kuni is the only thing out this way besides a small fishing village. Odds are they're here for you. You really should have included the possibility in your mission request.

"We're a poor country," Tazuna said. "We barely scraped together enough for a C-rank mission."

"You could have worked something out with the Hokage. A small portion of your bridge toll, for instance. He may have even agreed to take out Gato directly, rather than simply guarding you."

"Oh," said Tazuna sheepishly.

"What's to stop Gato from simply seizing the bridge once you're done?" asked Hinata. "A bridge is much easier to control than a shoreline."

Tazuna collapsed to his knees and buried his face in his hands.

"It's true that Gato could seize the bridge," said Kakashi, "but if he operates the bridge, he's liable for anything that happens to its patrons. He could get away with seizing the goods from small, unaffiliated companies occasionally, but not anyone important in Hi no Kuni. Whereas on the open sea. . . Well, piracy happens. The bridge also draws attention to Nami, which I'm sure he'd want to avoid."

"So, he'll try and stop the bridge," said Naruto, "but if Tazuna-san succeeds, he'll seize it after we leave?"

"Most likely," said Kakashi.

Tazuna started sniffling.

"So, I'm thinking you would like to renegotiate, Tazuna-kun?" drawled Kakashi.

Tazuna stood up and composed himself. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea, Kakashi-san"

Kakashi and Tazuna haggled back and forth until they decided on Konoha taking the value of two A-rank missions from Gato's assets plus a tithe of the tolls the from the bridge for the next 15 years with Konoha taking out Gato and monthly check-ins by the border patrol with a higher percentage if a permanent security presence was needed.

"I need to get Hokage-sama's approval on this, but I'm pretty sure he will agree," said Kakashi with a closed-eye smile. "Assuming he agrees, I would expect him to send one or two jounin to us within a day. We can wait for them at the shore—or for a rejection message." Kakashi wrote out a note on a scroll. "However, I think we should see if these two shinobi know anything first."

He paused for effect. "I believe you three are capable of handling those shinobi, especially during a failed ambush. I, of course, will be around in case something goes wrong, but I don't think it will. What do my cute little genin think?"

"We can do it!" Naruto enthused.

"Piece of cake," said Sasuke smugly.

Hinata poked her fingers together and looked at the ground. Naruto put her hand on the other girl's shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. Hinata smiled back shyly and then mustered her courage and said, "We can do it, Kakashi-sensei."

"Very well," said the jounin. "We'll let them spring their trap. They will likely target me first. If they do, I'll let them think they've incapacitated me. Hinata-chan, you're best suited to provide close security to the client, so let Sasuke-kun and Naruto-chan take care of the shinobi unless they approach you, okay? Sasuke-kun, you take the one on the left. Naruto-chan, you take the one on the right. Sasuke-kun, try to capture yours alive, since you are currently better at that type of technique than Naruto-chan."

"Wouldn't it be better if Tazuna-san stayed out of sight?" asked Hinata.

"Yes, it would," said Kakashi. "I left that flaw in the plan to see if any of you would spot it. You should always evaluate the plans your leaders put forward, speak your mind, and then accept what your leader says. In this case, Naruto-chan, Disguise a pair of clones as Hinata-chan and one as Tazuna-san. The two of you will be stay out of sight of the puddle. Naruto-chan, have your contingency clones watching everyone."

They started walking forward again. Naruto stopped everyone after about seven minutes. "It's just over there," she said, pointing.

Naruto made the Hinata clone, the Tazuna clone, and the contingency clones. Hinata activated her Byakugan. The two designated genin, the two clones, and the jounin moved forward again.

Naruto felt anxious as she approached the "puddle." She was operating without her Byakugan in order to lure the shinobi out. Since she was in the rear, she had a perfect view of Kakashi getting ripped to shreds as two masked shinobi in similar outfits hopped out of the fake puddle. They each wielded half of a long spiky chain attached to a gauntlet. "One down," they called simultaneously.

Naruto steeled herself as she knew that Kakashi's torn body was likely a genjutsu. She activated her eyes and saw that it was really a log. She was tempted to use her bloodline to locate him, but knew she should concentrate on the battle.

The Hinata-clone pulled the Tazuna-clone away from the developing battle. Sasuke threw a pair of kunai to anchor the chain into a nearby tree. Both enemy unhooked the chain from their clawed gauntlets. Naruto and Sasuke both placed themselves between the two Disguised clones and the enemy shinobi. One of the enemy charged the white-haired girl brandishing metal claws. Her Byakugan observed that the claws had a greenish sheen on them. 'Poison,' she thought.

She formed six clones. Three of them leaped away. She and the remaining three clones all drew kunai and charged in a diamond formation. She took the slot on the left herself. She and her clones engaged the enemy. He was a little bit better than her, but not by a lot. She and her clones each got a couple of strikes on him due to outnumbering him, but he managed to dispel two of her clones. She was tempted to keep going, but figured that the risk of being poisoned was not worth her pride. She whistled a short sequence for her clones and let one of them Replace her. The three clones that had jumped away had each formed five clones. Upon the successful Replacement, she and the fourteen clones bombarded him with kunai. She was not good enough to depend on anything other than center of mass shots, so he wasn't likely to survive. He managed to deflect several of the kunai, but she had him surrounded, and enough of the kunai hit him to leave him collapsed on the ground.

She noticed that Sasuke had his opponent slightly singed and wrapped up in wire. Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Excellent work. Let Hinata-chan know to come," he said.

Naruto made a Shadow Clone and dismissed it to let the contingency clone near Hinata know. A few minutes later, Hinata and Tazuna approached.

Kakashi examined the two enemies. Both were wearing slashed Mist Badges. "The Demon Brothers, Gouzu and Meizu, former chuunin of Kiri, now C-rank Missing Nin," said Kakashi.

"These are chuunin?" asked Sasuke incredulously.

"Kiri must have low standards," said Kakashi. "You guys are good for fresh genin, but you _are_ still fresh genin." He finished examining the one that Naruto had been fighting. "I don't think Gouzu is going to make it."

Kakashi took the other brother off a little ways to interrogate him.

Naruto could not look away from the enemy shinobi that was in the process of dying. She felt sick to her stomach and light headed. She finally looked away and started to stumble off. She did not get far before she collapsed to her hands and knees. She heard someone approaching behind her as she covered her mouth and fought back the urge to vomit.

"Are you okay, Naruto-chan?" asked Hinata.

"I killed him," she whispered.

Hinata gathered up Naruto's longish hair and started to rub her back.

"You had no choice," her friend replied as she continued to rub her back. "He was trying to kill you."

"I. . ." Naruto could not hold it in anymore and vomited onto the ground.

After she was done, Sasuke approached and offered her a handkerchief silently and then retreated.

Naruto wiped her mouth and then sat up. Hinata scooted up behind her and braided her hair as they made small talk to get their minds off of the nastiness of their profession.

When their sensei returned he said, "I couldn't get much out of him except that he was after our client. He wouldn't say if there were anybody else working with them or who hired them, but they were known associates of Momochi Zabuza, an A-rank Missing Nin from Kiri. We should wait here for our backup. Set up a perimeter, Naruto-chan."

Naruto made 20 Shadow Clones that activated their Byakugan and Disguised themselves as foxes and ran off into the forrest.

The jounin brought out the scroll he had made earlier and wrote a few more sentences. He cut his finger flew through some hand seals and slammed his hand on the ground. A design with fuuin characters spread out from his hand and a brown wolf-like dog wearing sunglasses and a blue vest appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Akino," he said, "I need you to deliver this scroll to Hokage-sama in Konoha. Travel quickly."

"Yes, sir," responded the dog which then took off running.

Naruto looked on in amazement and Sasuke with interest.

"I hold a summoning contract with the Ninken," Kakashi explained. "I can tell you about summoning contracts when we have more time."

Kakashi looked at the mess that Naruto had made and said, "I'd hoped that you wouldn't have to experience this yet, but it _is_ a part of what we do." He made a Shadow Clone and instructed it to watch Tazuna. He drew his students off a little ways and talked about how to cope with death and killing.


	8. Chapter 8: Demon of the Hidden Mist

Just before dusk, two Konoha shinobi arrived, a man and a woman. The man, Naruto recognized as one of the other jounin senseis, the one for Shikamaru's team. He was dark haired with a beard and wore a standard Konoha jounin uniform with a sash with the kanji for "Fire" on it. The woman had purplish hair done up in a poofy ponytail and wore a tan trench coat with only a mesh shirt and orange miniskirt underneath it. They introduced themselves as Sarutobi Asuma and Mitarashi Anko, a tokubetsu jounin.

"Hey, Asuma-sensei," said Naruto, "where are Shikamaru-san and Chouji-san?"

"Dad, thought that a wind user would be handy if we ran into Zabuza, since he favors the Hiding in the Mist Technique, but we decided not to bring my team. They're doing clan training while I'm gone."

"Are wind users rare?" asked Naruto.

"In Konoha, we are. I'm the only currently-active-jounin wind user. We have a small number of retired wind users. Most wind users come from Suna or elsewhere in Kaze no Kuni."

"I don't think Meizu here knows much, but you're welcome to try and see if you can get anything else out of him, Anko-san," said Kakashi.

"It will be my pleasure," she said as she licked a kunai and dragged the tied up missing nin away.

Kakashi ended up being correct. The only other thing that Anko got out of the surviving Demon Brother was that they were in fact working with Zabuza for Gatou, but they had strongly suspected that already.

The three jounin took the watches that night.

* * *

The next morning they set out again. Team 7 proceeded in the same formation as before. Asuma scouted ahead and Anko covered the rear. Both of them had one of Naruto's clones with them for communication. By evening they were a short distance from the fishing village where they would cross over to Nami. They camped again for the night. This time Kakashi had the genin take the watches like he had the first night.

* * *

In the morning, the three jounin discussed what the plan for deploying in Nami should be. According to Tazuna they would have a short hour walk from where they landed to his house. The jounin decided that Anko would scout the island with some of Naruto's clones, while Asuma would accompany Team 7.

Tazuna led them to a small cove where a fisherman was waiting for them. Team 7 entered the boat with Tazuna, while Asuma and Anko water-walked beside the boat. The strait that separated Nami no Kuni from Hi no Kuni was narrow, but foggy. It took them twenty minutes to cross with the fisherman paddling quietly. The only noteworthy thing to happen during the crossing was the first view of the bridge which loomed out of the fog.

"That's the bridge?" said Naruto. "Maybe you are more than an old drunk, after all."

"I told you, I'm the Super Bridge-Builder Tazuna, brat," said the bridge builder.

The fisherman hushed them both. "Quiet! Gatou has patrols."

They landed and Tazuna thanked the fisherman.

Anko split off from the group with five of Naruto's clones and the rest of them followed Tazuna's directions.

Before long, Naruto noticed something odd with her bloodline. "The fog has traces of chakra in it," she said.

Hinata turned hers on and said, "I see it too."

"We must be at the edges of the Hiding in the Mist Technique," said Kakashi. "We will most likely be facing Zabuza. He's a jounin, so let Asuma-kun and I handle him. You three stay with the client."

"I'll take lead on him, Kakashi-kun," said Asuma. "I was sent to take care of him, after all."

They continued into the mist, which gradually got thicker. After they had walked a few minutes. Hinata said, "I see two figures up ahead about 100 meters—just off of the path on the left. One of them has almost as much chakra as Asuma-sensei. The other has less, but still much more than Sasuke-san. The one with less chakra has a weird texture to it."

Naruto quickly found who she was talking about. "I see them too. This mist is really messing with my range."

Kakashi said, "We'll advance slowly, together. With someone like Zabuza, we don't want to get separated. When we get to 10 meters, I want you both to try and hit them with kunai or shuriken. The one with more chakra is almost certainly Zabuza. The other is likely an experienced chuunin or new jounin, possibly with a bloodline."

When they got to about 15 meters away from the other shinobi, Naruto made 20 Shadow Clones. When they got to about 10 meters, Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and then they started throwing kunai along with the 20 clones. The 2 shinobi either deflected or dodged all of the kunai. The one that was presumably Zabuza charged them while the other withdrew.

Naruto and Hinata both yelled, "Duck!" as a large cleaver-like sword spun through the air towards them. Kakashi pulled Tazuna down as everyone hit the deck. The sword embedded itself into a tree. Naruto saw Zabuza fly through the air and land on the sword. He was shirtless with bandages covering his lower face like a mask and a headband with a slashed Mist Badge at a jaunty angle.

The Konoha shinobi all climbed to their feet.

"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist," said Kakashi.

"Saringan no Kakashi, the Copy Nin," said Zabuza. "That kunai barrage wasn't very neighborly."

"I didn't think you were a neighborly sort of guy, Zabuza," Kakashi responded.

"That's true enough. I'm going to have to ask you to hand of the Bridge Builder."

"Now, why would I do that?" responded Kakashi.

"Good," said Zabuza. "I prefer it this way."

The mist began to thicken and Naruto frowned as her Byakugan's range contracted. She could still see him as he snuck around, but the other shinobi was out of range. He made four clones, however, unlike Shadow Clones, she could clearly differentiate between them and him.

"Zabuza, is a master of Silent Killing," said Kakashi, "so stay alert and watchful."

"Silent Killing?" asked Naruto.

"There are eight targets. . ." Zabuza's voice came out of the fog. "Throat, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian, kidney, heart. . . Which should I chose?"

Asuma put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and asked, "Where?"

Naruto pointed and said, "There, about 5 meters. He's got four clones out there as well. I'm not sure what kind, but they aren't Shadow Clones or normal Clones."

Before she had finished talking, Asuma made five hand seals and muttered, "Great Breakthrough." The mist in front of him dispersed to show Zabuza holding his giant sword.

"What's this?" asked Zabuza, "A wind specialist? And the albino is a Hyuuga, too? It's like you were prepared for me. Well, it won't help you. And two sets of unsealed Hyuuga eyes. . . This is my lucky day."

Naruto saw Hinata shiver.

"You're Sarutobi Asuma, aren't you?" Zabuza continued. "You have a nice bounty in my Bingo Book. It's not as good as Kakashi's, but it will do nicely."

"You'd have to survive to collect," responded Asuma. He pulled out two trench knives and slipped his hands into them. Whitish psuedo-blades sprang from the knives. Asuma and Zabuza leapt at each other.

"The clones are circling around us, Sensei," said Naruto.

"They're almost certainly Water Clones," said Kakashi. "They're only a tenth as powerful as the real Zabuza, but they can use any Water Release Techniques he knows, so be careful."

While they had been talking, Zabuza swiped at Asuma with his giant blade. Asuma parried it with his left knife and then sheared through his opponent's blade close to the hilt with the white pseudo-blade protruding from his knife. Zabuza swore and then strapped the hilt onto his back.

"Whoa," said Naruto.

Kakashi said, "Asuma-kun's trench knives are made out of a special chakra-conducting metal which allows him to manifest wind chakra blades from his knives. I believe he calls the technique Flying Swallow. Wind chakra can be sharpened to a very high degree. I've seen him cut through just about anything."

Kakashi absently punctured two of the Water Clones that approached them with thrown kunais. They gushed water and dispelled.

Zabuza had leapt apart and flew through an extensive hand sign sequence. Asuma slipped his knives into wrist holsters and then slipped something into his mouth and did four hand signs and blew out a stream of ash or dust. This caused Zabusa to leap back farther.

Zabuza finished his technique roaring, "Water Dragon Bullet." An impressive water dragon formed around him and shot forward.

A spark from Asuma's mouth ignited the dust just as the dragon was entering the dust cloud, a formidable explosion blew the water dragon apart. Zabuza scowled.

The Kiri Missing Nin next did a short sequence of hand seals and high-velocity water globs shot from his mouth. Asuma retaliated with a high-velocity stream of air that contained dust or sand.

In the meantime, Kakashi had eliminated the remaining Water Clones much like he had the first ones. "Any other Clones?" he asked.

Both Naruto and Hinata said that there weren't. He moved off at an angle and began going through a long sequence of hand seals very rapidly. Asuma and Zabuza were still trading quick ninjutsu back and forth. Finally, Kakashi ended his sequence and another Water Dragon Bullet formed around him and leapt at Zabuza.

Zabuza swore and tried to leap away, but the dragon followed him and crashed into him, flinging him onto his back. Asuma took the opportunity to close on him and lunged at his shoulder with his Flying Swallow before he could roll away.

As Asuma was about to finish him off, a figure in a mask with an unmarked Mist Badge appeared next to the downed missing nin and said, "Thank you, I was. . ."

"That's his partner!" Naruto interrupted.

The partner grabbed Zabuza by the shoulder and disappeared in a swirl of water droplets.

"That person was wearing a Kiri Hunter-Nin Uniform," said Asuma.

"Hinata-chan and I saw her talking to him as we approached. Right, Hinata-chan?" Naruto explained.

Hinata nodded.

Kakashi explained, "Hunter nins are shinobi that the various villages send to track down missing nin and other people of interest. They can be sent on capture missions, but usually they kill their targets. If the missing nin is from their own village, they kill them and destroy them on the spot in order to prevent other villages from learning secrets from their bodies or information on techniques, bloodlines, or special tools."

The three genin nodded to show that they understood.

"How far are we from your house?" Kakashi asked Tazuna.

"About a thirty minute walk from here," Tazuna responded.

"Alright, let's go," said Kakashi.


	9. Chapter 9: Inari and Haku

They arrived at Tazuna's house without further incident. Kakashi had Naruto set up a parameter of clones. A pretty woman with long, dark hair of about 30 years answered the door.

"Tousan!" she said. "I'm so glad you've come back safely."

"These Konoha shinobi made sure of it," the old man said. "This is my daughter, Tsunami."

"Greetings, Tsunami-san," said Kakashi. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, a jounin of Konoha. This is my colleague, Sarutobi Asuma-san, and my students, Hyuuga Hinata-san, Uzuamaki Naruto-san, and Uchiha Sasuke-san. Another of our colleagues, Mitarashi Anko-san, will be along later today. Naruto-chan here, is something of a prodigy with a technique called Shadow Clone, so if you see more of her around, don't be alarmed."

"So many?" Tsunami said. "We have two small guest rooms. Will that be enough?"

"It should be okay. We all brought sleeping bags, so you don't need to worry about providing futons. I'll share with Asuma-kun and Sasuke-kun. Anko-kun can share the other room with Hinata-chan and Naruto-chan."

Tsunami showed them to the rooms and the shinobi set up. There wasn't a lot of space, but there was enough to roll out their sleeping bags and place their packs.

Anko showed up at dusk. After she had situated her things in the room with Naruto and Hinata, Kakashi had them all meet in the clearing in front of the house.

"Did you find anything, Anko-kun?" Kakashi asked.

"I found Gato's base. He's occupying the Daimyo's mansion which is a few kilometers away from the main village on the opposite side. The village is about a kilometer away from here. He's got about a hundred thugs camped around it. Most of them looked pretty useless for anything other than mobbing, but there were a few that looked like they had basic shinobi or samurai training."

"We ran into Zabuza," Kakashi said. "Asuma-kun got him in his shoulder pretty good, but he had an associate posing as a hunter nin that escaped with him. We didn't chase them because I felt splitting up was a bad idea."

"What're the odds that Zabuza will give up?" asked Asuma.

"Slim," replied Kakashi. "The Demon of the Hidden Mist has a lot of pride. However, he'll probably have reinforcements."

"Should we send for more?" Naruto asked worriedly.

Kakashi shook his head. "If we were facing a team from Iwa or Kumo, possibly. This is the biggest team Hokage-sama will send against missing nin. Luckily, as a missing nin, Zabuza will have limited resources. He probably won't be able to bring in more than one or two jounin-level shinobi."

"What about Gatou?" Hinata asked.

Kakashi said, "Gatou could certainly afford more shinobi, but I doubt Zabuza will let him know the details of our encounter and I would bet he insisted on an exclusive contract."

"So, do we move on Gatou?" Anko asked.

"I'm hesitant to split us up or leave the Bridge Builder undefended," Kakashi said.

"We wait for Zabuza to show up or until the bridge is done and then we take out Gatou?" Asuma asked.

"Unless Anko-kun thinks that one of us can take out all of Gatou's thugs at once," Kakashi responded.

"I could certainly sneak in and assassinate Gatou," Anko said, "but I'm afraid his thugs will go crazy on the locals if I do. The problem is that the thugs will run if one of us kills a bunch of them and who knows what will happen then."

"We'll guard Tazuna-san and his family until something happens to change things then," said Kakashi.

Kakashi ended the meeting. By then it was time for dinner. They met Tsunami's son Inari, who was sullen and grumpy. He told them they were all going to die because Gatou was too strong. The shinobi all ignored him which irritated the boy.

The jounin kept watch in shifts during the night.

* * *

The next morning Kakashi had Naruto make 20 clones to watch the house while the shinobi went with Tazuna to the bridge site. When they got there, Asuma and Anko guarded the bridge builder while Kakashi instructed the genin nearby.

"I have something that I want to teach you," said Kakashi, "but is there anything any of you want to learn first?"

"Do you have something I can use for capturing enemies?" Naruto asked. "I don't like that I had to kill that missing nin and we had to rely on Sasuke-san to capture the other for questioning. My main technique other than taijutsu is the Shadow Clone kunai barrage, which doesn't leave a lot of options."

"Hmm." Kakashi tapped his mouth with his fingers. "The herders that live around the edges of the desert in Kaze no Kuni have a weapon called the bolas, which might suit you. It's fashioned from cords with two or three weights on the ends. You twirl it and launch it from a distance and it wraps up limbs. We can look into it once we get back to Konoha."

He waited, but there were not any other requests from the genin.

"Today we're going to start you on the Flicker. It's a D-rank ninjutsu, but it's got a lot of utility. It's a fast movement technique. I'm sure you've seen me use it when I disappear in a swirl of leaves. Most shinobi can't use it in battle, but one of Sasuke-kun's cousins was famous for doing so. I think that Naruto-chan could use it to position her clones pretty handily. However, to escape a dangerous situation, Replacement is better because it takes less concentration and is less traceable."

He showed them how to do it and then had them practice it. By the end of the day, they could all do it, but still needed practice to be able to hit their landing target more accurately.

* * *

That evening at dinner, Naruto was teasing Sasuke about how his fangirls would squeal when they heard that his C-rank mission had turned into an A-rank. Hinata was giggling at Sasuke's grimace.

Inari glared at the three genin. "How can you be so happy when you're all going to die?"

"Kid," Naruto said, "you have to take your happy moments when you can get them."

"What would you know?" he responded. "You've been laughing and smiling since you've gotten here. You have no idea what hangs over you. You have no idea what suffering is."

Naruto's temper flared and her hair started to writhe. "You have no idea how good you have it. You still have your mother and grandpa, at least. I bet you've never been truly hungry or in real danger. I don't need to hear you complain about suffering when you don't know what true loneliness is. I guarantee my life has been harsher than yours, but you don't see me crying about it." She stormed outside before she said or did something she would regret.

She ended up on the dock looking out over the water. It was a full moon, which comforted her for some reason. She watched the reflection of the moon in the water as it rippled.

About 10 minutes later she heard footsteps on the dock. She looked over her shoulder and saw Hinata and Sasuke approaching.

"You put on quite the show there, Dead Last," Sasuke said.

"It wasn't a show, Jerk," she said. "The kid ticked me off. The only thing worse than a real emo is a fake emo. At least you have a legitimate reason to brood."

Hinata said, "Kakashi-sensei told them a little bit about how the village treated you, Naruto-chan. At that point Inari-san ran upstairs and Tsunami-san told us about how Gatou had Inari-san's step-father, whom he loved, executed in front of the whole village, including Inari-san."

She snorted. "Still doesn't excuse him from trying to ruin what little happiness I have."

The other two sat down, one on each side of the white-haired girl. They were silent for several moments.

"You know, Jerk," she said to Sasuke, "I've always been a little jealous that at least you got to have your family for years before you became an orphan. At least you remember them."

"I always thought it was better not to have known," said Sasuke. "Then at least you didn't have the pain of losing them."

"Small consolation when you can see other kids being happy with their families."

The conversation lapsed.

"I've been jealous of them too—those that have a real family," said Hinata quietly. "The joy drained out of my father when my mother died. The compound has been so cold since then. My father ignores me. My sister thinks I'm weak. My cousin hates me. The clan elders can't wait to put me into the Branch Family where I'll be little better than a slave. The rest of the clan either hates me or pities me. I'm never so alone as when I'm surrounded by my so-called family."

"Look at us," Naruto said. "Three orphans, one way or the other. We should make our own family—brother and sisters. Kakashi-sensei can be the perverted uncle."

She put an arm around Hinata and held the other out for Sasuke. "Come on, Emo-boy. Group hug to seal the deal."

He allowed himself to be pulled into the hug with only a grunt in protest.

Naruto cackled. "Hinata and I can play matchmaker and set you up on dates like any good sisters would."

Sasuke glared. "If you do, I'm burning Ichiraku's to the ground."

"You wouldn't!" Naruto squealed.

Sasuke only looked at her with a gleam in his eyes. Hinata giggled at their antics.

They sat down and talked quietly until Hinata yawned. Or rather, Hinata and Naruto talked, with occasional interjections from Sasuke.

"You two head to bed," said Naruto. "I'm still too worked up to sleep. I'm going to train some more."

"It's pretty late," Hinata said. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"I'll be fine. I'll have my contingency clones nearby."

"If the Dead Last isn't smart enough to come in, let her suffer for it," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto stuck out her tongue at her pseudo-brother.

She walked back to shore and then waved to the others as they continued back to the house.

She remembered that Kakashi had said that the Flicker Technique would be good for her clones, so she made 210 clones, in case they learned it differently than she herself did. If a few were good, then more would be better, right? She named off ten to be contingency clones assigned to watch the real her and told the others to practice the Flicker and then disperse in two hours. She got to work on making her landings stick.

Almost two hours later, she paused and realized that her self-appointed deadline was coming up. She sat down to prepare to receive the memories. The first few came, which seemed to signal the rest to disperse all at once. She gripped her head as it seemed to pulse with the strain. Within seconds she was swept into unconsciousness by the flood of experiences.

* * *

She awoke with the feeling that someone was nearby. The training to be a light sleeper had been one of Kakashi's favorite weeks, although none of the genin had enjoyed it. She opened her eyes and realized it was about breakfast time, and that she had slept in the forest. The deluge of memories must have wiped out her contingency clones.

She saw a dark-haired girl a little older than herself in a pink kimono walking toward her with a basket in her hand. Naruto sat up and said, "Hello, miss."

"Hello," the other girl responded. "Are you a shinobi?"

Naruto did not see the point in denying it with her Leaf Badge in plain sight. She pointed to where it hung around her neck. She had taken to wearing it there like Hinata. "Yep. Fell asleep training. What are you doing out so early?"

"My friend injured himself while he was cutting wood. I'm gathering herbs to make a poultice."

"Would you like some help?" Naruto asked.

"That would be nice. Thank you. My name is Haku."

"Nice to meet you, Haku-chan. I'm Naruto."

They chatted for a few minutes after Haku showed Naruto which herbs she wanted. Haku asked, "Do you have a Bloodline Ability? You have an unusual look to you, Naruto-san."

Naruto chuckled nervously. Kakashi and Old-Man Hokage had drilled into her the need to be discrete about her Bloodline. "You can't really expect me to answer that to a stranger, Haku-chan. I mean you seem nice enough, but nice people can be gossips too."

"I don't blame you. Where I grew up in Mizu no Kuni, people with Bloodline Abilities were treated very poorly because the masses thought they were dangerous."

"It's not like that in Konoha," Naruto responded. "Bloodline holders are treated very well, but I can sympathize with your compatriots because I was treated poorly for a similar reason."

"Oh?" the dark-haired girl asked.

Naruto laughed. "I'm not going to explain that to you, either, Haku-chan."

After a momentary lapse in the conversation, Haku asked, "Are you strong, Naruto-san?"

"I like to think I am—at least for my age." Kakashi had also drilled into her the need to refrain from boasting to strangers.

"Do you have someone precious to you?"

Naruto nodded. "My teammates, a few others."

"I believe that when you fight for your precious people, that's when you become truly strong."

Naruto nodded again. "I know what it's like to be alone. I would fight to the end for those that rescued me from it."

"I see that we understand each other, Naruto-san. I feel that we could be friends. It's too bad that we probably won't see each other again once you go back to Konoha."

"That's true, but I'll be here in Nami for a while longer. Perhaps we could meet again, Haku-neechan?"

"I wouldn't want to make any plans," said the other girl, "but I suspect we'll see each other again." She seemed to have a sad smile on her face which confused Naruto a little.

"I've gathered enough, so I should be getting back to my friend." She began to walk away. "By the way, I'm a boy."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "No way." He was as pretty as Hinata, who Naruto privately thought was the prettiest of all her acquaintances her own age. She turned on her Byakugan to satisfy her curiosity. No, the other was definitely a girl. She recognized the cold-looking chakra as that which belonged to Zabuza's partner. "Hey, wait! You're Zabuza's partner!"

Haku began to run. Naruto quickly made twenty clones to chase after her, while she herself retreated toward Tazuna's house via the Flicker Technique. She noticed that she was much better at it than the last time she tried it the previous night.

She received memories from her clones that the girl had disappeared into what looked like a mirror made of ice.

She was almost back to the house when she ran into Hinata and Sasuke.

"You slept in the forest didn't you, Idiot?" said Sasuke. "I thought you said you were just going to work off some steam."

"I didn't mean to, Emo-chan. It turns out that dispelling 200 Shadow Clones at once is a bad idea. It knocked me out and my contingency clones too."

"You didn't realize that Kakashi never had you disperse more than 20 at once even though he knows you can make much more than that?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Laugh it up, Emo-chan. You'll get yours," Naruto promised.

Sasuke's smirk faltered momentarily before reappearing.

"Whatever, Dead Last."

Naruto started to cackle. Even Hinata appeared unnerved.

After Naruto had composed herself she said, "Let's go see the others. I ran into Zabuza's partner in the woods."

They ran inside and Naruto explained what had happened to the three jounin.

"At least it appears that you didn't give away much," said Kakashi. "Zabuza already knew you had the Byakugan. Confirming that the partner has a Bloodline Ability is good. You said she disappeared into a mirror made of ice?"

Naruto nodded. "My clones examined it while I came back to report."

"She probably has the Hyouton," said Anko. "It's the only ice-related Bloodline we know of and Kiri's Yuki Clan was known to possess it before they got wiped out in the Bloodline purges. She could easily be a survivor."

Kakashi scolded Naruto for dispelling so many clones at once, but admitted he should have explicitly told her.

They settled down to breakfast and fell into the normal routine.


	10. Chapter 10: The Battle at the Bridge

After the run-in with Zabuza's partner, the jounin thought it best to leave either one of them or all the genin at Tazuna's house to protect Tsunami and Inari while the rest of the team accompanied Tazuna to the bridge.

Naruto and Hinata accompanied Tsunami into town once each so that she could buy a few things. They were appalled at the conditions the people of Nami were suffering under and could not wait to get rid of Gatou.

After the three genin had learned the Flicker, Kakashi brought out several small slips of paper. "These are chakra papers. They are used to find your primary chakra affinity. Unless you have a Bloodline Ability that balances two chakra natures, most shinobi will have one chakra nature that dominates." He held one slip in his right hand and channeled chakra through it which caused it to wrinkle. "When I channel my chakra through the paper it wrinkles. This means that my primary affinity is Lightning."

He pulled out another slip and repeated the procedure. This time the paper crumbled. "However, if I hold back my Lightning Chakra Nature, it crumbles signifying Earth. I personally have trained all five chakra natures, but Earth is my second best after my natural Lightning Affinity. Most jounin-level shinobi have at least two chakra natures they have trained. Having all five trained is rare—I did it because of my Sharingan. Eventually you'll probably want to do the same, Sasuke-kun. For you girls, it's not as important and you would probably be better off specializing in two or three, eventually. Using only one type of chakra nature can leave you susceptible to that nature's weaknesses. As a genin, you're not expected to be able to use elemental techniques, but you guys are advanced enough to start on your first.

"Each chakra nature can be mastered by doing elemental chakra manipulation. This allows you to manipulate each element directly and improves your ability to use techniques that utilize that chakra nature. Think of it as a specialized chakra control exercise."

Each of the genin used the paper. Naruto's split signifying Wind. Sasuke and Hinata's both burned signifying Fire.

Kakashi told Naruto, "Like Asuma said when he first arrived, Wind is rare in Hi no Kuni. Wind is actually my worst chakra nature, although I have mastered the basic manipulation exercises, so I'll have him start you on the Wind Chakra manipulation and have him teach you a Wind technique."

Kakashi told the other two, "Fire is the most common affinity in Hi no Kuni, so it's not surprising that the two of you have it. The Uchiha clan is especially famous for using Fire techniques. Anko is better at using Fire than I am, so I'll have her help me teach you two fire manipulation and teach Hinata a technique. Sasuke, I think you'd be better served by mastering the two techniques you know rather than learning a third."

Asuma taught Naruto the Leaf-Cutting Exercise which involved grinding two planes of wind together to created a blade of wind. He told her that Wind techniques generally came in three classes: pushing, cutting, and eroding techniques. Pushing were the easiest and eroding the hardest. He taught her a pushing technique called Great Breakthrough. It was the one he had used to clear Zabuza's fog technique.

By the end of the week, Naruto was able to cut a leaf quickly and easily. She had utilized Shadow Clones to get it down. After her improvement with the Flicker, she had figured out that they were very useful for learning as long as she did not dismiss too many at once. She also became proficient in the Great Breakthrough Technique. Asuma told her to expand the manipulation training by practicing making multiple Wind blades at once and by cutting harder materials, like a rock. The most difficult Wind training involved cutting a waterfall.

Susuke and Hinata also mastered the most basic part of Fire manipulation. Sasuke had a head start due to already being proficient in two Fire techniques. Hinata continued to be excellent in all forms of chakra manipulation. Hinata learned the Fireball Technique.

Kakashi told them about the way that Wind techniques could magnify Fire techniques which made for some interesting collaboration techniques, but told them to be careful so that it did not literally blow up in their faces.

* * *

About 10 days after Naruto's confrontation with Haku, they approached the bridge and noticed it was enshrouded by fog and piteous cries were coming from the workers. "Demons. . . Monsters. . ."

"Anko is going to be annoyed that she missed out again," commented Asuma.

"We're going to have to give her Gatou to placate her," Kakashi agreed.

Waiting at the foot of the bridge were three figures, Zabuza, the hunter nin, and a man with spiky olive green hair wearing a black vest with bandages under it.

"Kurosaki Raiga, the Thunder of the Hidden Mist, former member of Kiri's Seven Swordsmen, A-rank missing nin," said Kakashi.

"This is your last chance to hand over the Bridge Builder, Konoha nin," said Zabuza.

"I'm afraid we can't do that," said Kakashi.

"Good," said Zabuza. "I was looking forward to a rematch with Neck-beard-san."

"You didn't get enough last time, No-brows-san?" retorted Asuma.

"I'll take Raiga," Kakashi told his genin. "Hinata and Sasuke, take the hunter nin. Naruto, guard the client." This was the protocol they had established when they had to fight a single hard target while guarding a client. If there were multiple targets, Hinata usually had guard duty. "Also, have your clones keep us Mist-free. Use a wide, low-power Great Breakthrough for that."

Naruto made clones to watch each of the fights and disperse the Mist and sent a pair back toward Tazuna's house. She tracked all of the fights, but mainly paid attention to Hinata and Sasuke's fight with the girl who had called herself Haku.

She noticed that she had a hard time following Raiga for some reason. It was like something was interfering with her Byakugan. Up till now she had seen through genjutsu quite easily with it. She wondered if Raiga had a Bloodline Ability.

Both of the jounin fights turned into stalemates. Zabuza had managed to get his giant sword back somehow. He was fighting much more carefully so that he did not break it again. Kakashi and Raiga both seemed to be able to predict each other's moves.

Hinata was doing pretty well against Haku with Sasuke backing her up. Both of the girls were nimble fighters. Naruto could tell that Haku was better, but Sasuke's help was making the fight even. Haku fought mainly with senbon needles some of which she made from her chakra, which Hinata was able to deflect with her chakra-coated hands. Haku was too fast for Hinata to get a clean strike on her and disable her tenketsu, but Hinata had manage to get a few glancing blows on her, which Naruto knew from experience were still painful. Sasuke had almost gotten Haku with his wire techniques, but she had managed to avoid them so far.

Finally, Haku seemed to pause and then release a large burst of chakra. Slabs of what appeared to be ice sprang up around her and then wrapped around to enclose Hinata and Sasuke in a dome of ice slabs. The slabs were suspended in the air and had narrow spaces between them. Naruto frowned and said to two of her clones, "Try and pull them out."

The clones concentrated but then shook their heads. One of her clones said, "It's no good, Boss. There's a bunch of chakra in the slabs. I can't get a lock on either of them."

"Same here," said the other.

"Try it again, closer," she said.

Both clones approached the domes, periodically trying to pull them out. Finally they were right outside the dome. They both shook their heads and dispelled.

Inside the dome, things were not going as well. Haku seemed to be able enter the slabs and to shoot her senbon from many of the slabs at once. Naruto could tell that Hinata was getting exhausted and was near the end of her endurance. Sasuke was doing better, but that was mainly because Haku seemed to be concentrating on Hinata.

Naruto decided that she had to help her friends. She made 20 clones and said to Tazuna, "My clones will take you to your house. Anko-san will protect you. I need to help my friends."

One of her clones Disguised herself as an adult version of herself so that she had the arm length and the height to carry Tazuna and picked him up. The other clones made a formation around her and they left with coordinated Flickers.

Naruto Flickered to the edge of the dome. She arrived in time to see Hinata drop due to exhaustion and blood loss.

"Hinata!" she yelled and ran into the dome and stopped next to Sasuke who was standing next to Hinata's prone form.

"What are you doing here, Dead Last?" said Sasuke. "Where's Tazuna?"

"Nice to see you too, Emo-chan," Naruto responded. "Sent him with some clones to Anko-san."

"Why are you doing this, Haku-chan?" said Naruto called to the fake hunter nin. "Don't you know that if the Bridge Builder dies then Gatou will destroy this whole country. Hundreds of people will suffer and die or worse?"

"I truly regret what is going to happen," Haku replied from the mirror-like surface of one of the slabs, "but I must serve my Precious Person's will. To further Zabuza-sama's dream, I will kill my heart and become a true shinobi." She paused and then continued with regret in her voiced. "I feel like we could have been friends, Naruto-san. I'm sorry."

"I won't let you do this, Haku-chan!" Naruto yelled. "You're too nice a person to blight your soul like this."

"I'm afraid it's too late for me, but for Zabuza-sama I would damn my soul to the deepest hell regardless."

"He doesn't deserve you!" Naruto shouted as the senbon began to rain down upon them."

Naruto and Sasuke quickly moved back to back, bracketing Hinata who lay between them at their feet. Each of them had a kunai in each hand to deflect the needles. Naruto, despite her near-360-degree field of view, could barely track the senbon due to their speed. Unlike Hinata, who had practiced with the Byakugan for years, Naruto was still getting used to seeing so much. The needles coming in on her left would distract her from the ones coming in on her right. Worse, she kept having to restrain herself from reacting to the needles coming in behind her toward Sasuke. Her only saving grace was that her regeneration and stamina was letting her ignore the strikes that did hit her.

"These senbon are made using my Hyouton Bloodline Ability," said Haku. "I will never run out. You should give up."

She could see and hear Sasuke struggling to deflect his needles, but he was keeping up for the most part. Suddenly, Sasuke's breathing became a lot smoother and his movements sharper and less frantic. She could see that he was concentrating chakra in his eyes. She smiled, happy for her pseudo-brother, that he had awoken his Bloodline Ability.

On the other hand, the blood loss was finally catching up to her. She was certain that if she got a moment to rest, she would be fine, but Haku was relentless with the senbon shower. She put more effort into trying to deflect them all.

"I see I must escalate matters," said Haku sorrowfully.

Spears of ice, several centimeters in diameter, rained down on them. There were not nearly as many of them, but they absolutely could not miss any and had to make sure to guard Hinata at their feet.

'I can't keep up,' Naruto thought as she barely deflected one and then had to stretch to get one coming in from the other side. 'Even seeing them coming isn't enough.'

She tried channeling more chakra to her eyes to see if it would help her distinguish the incoming missiles better. She felt a pulling on her forehead and then the field of view in front of her snapped into focus. She could see the trajectories of the incoming ice spears and see which ones would hit first. The view behind her remained as it had. Her perception of time sped up so that she noticed every detail in front of her. She began to move more efficiently as she now knew exactly how much to move in order to deflect the spears.

She began to hear Sasuke's breathing getting rougher. He was being worn down. Suddenly she saw Sasuke diving to intercept an ice spear that was coming in low. It looked like it would hit Hinata's head! Sasuke stopped it, but a second spear hit Sasuke in the thigh.

"It's up to you, Dead Last," Sasuke said. "I had hoped we could all go after Itachi together." He fainted from the shock.

Naruto felt rage bubble up inside of her. She vaguely heard Haku talking, but ignored her. It wasn't supposed to happen this way! She would not let Hinata and Sasuke die because she wasn't strong enough! She could feel a malicious chakra bubbling up with the rage. She wrenched the chakra from its source and made it her own. She expelled the chakra from her body and wrapped it around her. Her hair lengthened and bunched into ten tail-like strands. She roared and pushed out causing her hair to puncture the ten of the mirrors shattering them.

She vaguely registered Haku's gasp as she dropped to the ground and tried to back away. Two of Naruto's hair-tails shot forward and wrapped around the other kunoichi, binding her arms to her side.

Naruto struggled to get a handle on her rage. "Why?" she yelled. "Sasuke-kun was a bit of a jerk, but Hinata-chan was the kindest person I've ever met. She didn't deserve this! Neither of them did! Why are you doing this for him? A monster that would condemn an entire country to rape, death, and slavery?"

"I'm like you and your friends," said Haku quietly, looking at the ground. "I have a Bloodline, except that I didn't know it when I was little. In Kiri and Mizu no Kuni, Bloodline holders are considered monsters. The Fourth Mizukage had us rounded up and slaughtered after one of the Bloodline clans revolted. My mother hid her Ability and married my father without telling him. One day I accidentally awoke my Ability and my father saw me use it. He accused my mother of being a demon and a monster. He rounded up the other villagers and they killed her in front of me. In my fear and anger my Bloodline activated again and I killed them all with ice spears. I ran and lived on the street in one of the bigger villages, hiding that I was a monster, and begging for months. Zabuza-sama took me in and rescued me. He taught me to be a shinobi and made me his tool. He gave me a purpose and for that I have served him."

She looked up at Naruto. "I am a broken tool now. Please kill me now that I am no longer of use to Zabuza-sama."

Naruto's heart broke. "Listen, Haku-chan. You aren't a monster or a tool. Certainly not for holding a Bloodline." She paused. "I've been treated like a monster most of my life, too. I've just recently gotten friends—real friends, not a master who treats me like a tool—it makes a big difference!"

They both heard shouting. Naruto looked around and noticed that Raiga was down, presumably dead. Asuma was holding the Wind blade sprouting from his trench knife to Zabuza's throat. Zabuza's right arm was sheared off at the elbow. Kakashi was leaning over Sasuke and Hinata. One of her clones was holding onto a short kid.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku shouted. She tried to wiggle free.

Naruto increased the amount of chakra she had instinctively been channeling into her hair.

Suddenly clapping and jeering came out of the fog. Naruto saw a short, fat man leading a gang of thugs armed with clubs and swords. Only a few of them had active chakra systems.

The fat man, presumably Gatou, said, "Go on, finish them off. That way, I don't have to pay them." He laughed. "Not that I was planning to. It's so much better hiring missing nin. That way I can kill them and collect their bounties rather than paying them."

"We no longer have a quarrel, Asuma-san," said Zabuza.

"Agreed," said Asuma.

Zabuza undid his built and cinched it around his arm, just below the bicep. He picked up his sword left handed.

"No one double-crosses me and lives!" Zabuza roared as he charged into the thugs.

"A million ryou to the man that kills him!" Gatou screamed as he dived into the crowd.

A few of the thugs hesitantly stepped forward, but then merged back into the group as Zabuza charged forward. He only targeted the thugs directly in front of him, which allowed some of them to get strikes in. The thugs surrounding Gatou backed away and the fat man fell to the ground.

"I'll give you anything you want!" Gatou pleaded.

"Anything?" asked Zabuza.

"Yes!"

"I want you to die!" Zabuza roared as he cleaved Gatou's head from his body.

With the death of Gatou, the life seemed to drain out of Zabuza and he collapsed.

Naruto heard Haku sobbing quietly.

"He killed our meal ticket!" one of the thugs yelled. "Let's finish him off!"

Another yelled, "They can't get all of us!"

The thugs seemed to be gathering their courage. Naruto prepared to summon a bunch of Shadow Clones, when a crossbow bolt slammed into a random thug.

"You need to work on your aim, brat," she heard Anko call. A kunai slammed into the main rabble rouser right between the eyes. "That's how you do it!"

Naruto refocused her Byakugan and saw Anko, Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami at the head of a mob of villagers armed with clubs, pitchforks, and a few crossbows.

The thugs started to run, with the villagers chasing after them. Naruto summoned 100 clones to help run them down.

"If I let you go, will you behave, Haku-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, Naruto-san," the other girl said.

Naruto let go of the chakra she was holding and it faded. She looked at her hair which was now over twice as long as she was tall. She took a kunai and hacked it off at about waist length. She could get it fixed later, but for now she didn't want it dragging.

They walked over to where everyone was gathering by Sasuke and Hinata. They were both still unconscious.

"How are they, Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Hinata-chan will recover just fine with some rest," Kakashi replied. "She's mainly just exhausted, with some blood loss. Sasuke is the same, but he also has the wound in his thigh. Luckily it's not very deep. With some stitches and some rest he'll be okay too. He just won't want to be walking for the next week."

"Can I go see Zabuza-sama, Naruto-san?" Haku asked.

Naruto looked at Kakashi who nodded.

"Okay, Haku-chan," she said.

Naruto and Asuma followed Haku over to where Zabuza lay. He opened his eyes as they approached.

"I'm sorry I was not a better tool, Zabuza-sama," Haku said quietly.

Zabuza chuckled. "Haku, you were a better tool than I deserved. If I were a better master, I would not have let you think that way. We live in a harsh world, but that doesn't mean you can't take joy for yourself in it. Find some friends. I considered you a daughter. If I had been a better man, I would have told you before I was on my death bed."

"Death bed? Surely not. . ." Haku protested.

"Let me go, Haku. A swordsman without an arm is useless. I refuse! Better to have gone down fighting." With that he closed his eyes and his breathing slowed and stopped.

Haku cried silently.

"Haku can come with us, right, Asuma-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Asuma hesitated, but then said, "It would probably be okay if her situation is what I think it is. We'd need to ask her some questions and then send ahead to ask Tousan. Since we need to wait for the bridge to finish and Sasuke-kun's leg to heal, we'd have the time."

Naruto's clones approached and she told them to start dispelling in groups of ten every two minutes while she sat down to meditate.

Asuma's fight had gone largely as his first fight with Zabuza: stalemate until Kakashi could help.

Kakashi's fight had been a stalemate until Kakashi had made a Shadow Clone to ask one of Naruto's clones to separate Raiga from the boy on his back. Naruto's clone had has a hard time locking onto the boy or even finding him with her Byakugan. She had tried sensing him with her eyes closed and finally found him with her chakra sense. Kakashi had made her practice Replacing her teammates without the Byakugan active and they'd discovered she could sense chakra, although it didn't have the range that her Byakugan did nor did it give her as much information—in most instances. Kakashi had said that her mother had been able to do this and that Naruto could train it to improve the range and the information it provided. With all the other things she wanted to do, Naruto had put it at a low priority. After separating Raiga and the boy, Kakashi had managed to overcome him. Evidently the boy had a Bloodline Ability that he had been using to help Raiga predict Kakashi's moves and that had hindered the Sharingan and Byakugan. Kakashi had fired off another Water Dragon Missle at Zabuza allowing Asuma to break the stalemate and then ran to check on Hinata and Sasuke.

The clones that had escorted Tazuna had arrived to find Anko interrogating two samurai rejects that had shown up to kidnap Tsunami or Inari. Inari had found his courage and convinced the others to allow him to round up the villagers to help.

Naruto stood up and rejoined the others with Haku following her. Sasuke and Hinata were both awake and had been told what had happened.

"I think we should debrief this evening or tomorrow," said Kakashi. "I'm sure the genin, at least, would like nothing better than a good nap."

"Sounds good to me," Naruto said and the others agreed.

"Anko, do you think you could secure Gatou's mansion with the forces Inari rounded up?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, I think he had at least two thirds of them here at the bridge."

"Go ahead and do that before someone runs off with everything or they burn it to the ground."

Kakashi picked up Sasuke and Naruto and the others followed him back to Tazuna's house.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** It's fanon to have Hinata have Water Affinity, but that doesn't have any basis in canon, but I didn't feel like following that convention added anything to my story. Narutopedia lists her as using Fire and Lightning, but doesn't specify which was her natural affinity. I decided it made sense for her to be Fire and no reason not to make her that.


	11. Chapter 11: Kyuubi

**Author's Note:** Edited 2016-03-09 to fix error about Naruto already being told about her clan.

* * *

When they got back to their room, Hinata collapsed into her sleeping bag. Haku was locked in Inari's room with a chakra suppression seal on her. Inari would sleep with his mother. Naruto was feeling worn out, but she wanted to check a few things first. She pulled out a small mirror from her pack.

She activated her Byakugan and then increased the chakra to her eyes. The third eye on her forehead opened. It was red with a small black dot in the center and a single black tomoe rotating around the dot. 'Sharingan,' she thought to herself.

She tried to put chakra into her hair to move it, but she could not get the chakra to stay in it. Maybe she had to be angry to do it.

She put the mirror away and climbed into her sleeping bag. Sleep came quickly.

* * *

Naruto awoke on a gray, blasted landscape. Craters marked the land around her. The sky was open to the stars. Instead of the moon, she saw a much larger blue/brown/white orb up in the sky. A tall wall stood before her with a large gate made out of narrow bars in the center of it. On the gate hung a paper with the kanji for "seal" on it.

As she did not see anything else to do, she approached the gate.

"We meet at last, jailer," said a deep, masculine voice from within the gate. She could see only large eyes hovering in the darkness. She activated her Byakugan and saw a very intense fox-like silhouette with nine tails, containing several orders of magnitude more chakra than everyone in Konoha combined.

She looked at the cause of most of what was wrong with her life. She steeled herself. She was _not_ going to give him the satisfaction of appearing scared or angry. "Kyuubi? Where are we? How did I get here?"

The Kyuubi ignored her questions and instead said, "So it _is_ true. You look just like the pictures I've seen of her, except that you haven't mutilated your eyebrows and you bear _my_ marks." He seemed pretty smug about the last part.

"Who? Outsutsuki Kaguya? Who was she?" Naruto asked. "That Zetsu thing mentioned that I _felt_ like his mother, who was named that."

"I don't know who Zetsu is or was, but Outsutuski Kaguya created chakra by meddling in things she shouldn't have. She ate the forbidden fruit of the Shinju tree. Her son Hagoromo, known as the Rikudo Sennin, spread it and taught people how to use it hoping that it would bring people together in peace." He laughed bitterly. "He was a noble, if foolish, man."

"What happened to her?" asked Naruto. "There are legends about Rikudo Sennin-sama, but nothing about his mother."

This time the Kyuubi's laugh was malicious. "She went insane from the power. She decided that the only way the world would know peace was to trap everyone in a genjutsu—forcing a peaceful dream world upon everyone. Envious that her sons had inherited chakra from her, she merged with the Shinju tree and turned into the Juubi. Her sons defeated the thing she had become and Hagoromo sealed the Juubi into himself. Near the end of his life, Hogoromo split the chakra of the Juubi into the nine portions of various power, creating the bijuu. We consider him our father. He sealed the Juubi's body into the moon. So in a way, Kaguya was my grandmother and my mother."

"What does she have to do with me?" Naruto asked. "Why do I look like her?"

"I don't know the why—other than that you're her descendent—but I can tell you the what. People with unfinished business often leave some of their chakra behind. This chakra seeks out similar chakra—usually that of a descendant—and binds to it, influencing the development of the person whose chakra it cleaves to. The bigger the chakra, the greater the influence. This is called transmigration. In most cases the influence is small, but someone like Kaguya. . ." He trailed off. "No one knows if the transmigrant is like the original because of the lingering chakra or if the transmigrant attracts the lingering chakra because they are like the original. Probably some of both. Some people believe that transmigrants are the original person's soul reincarnated, but there is some evidence against it."

"What's that?" Naruto asked. She didn't like the idea that she was some crazy lady reborn.

"The two most commonly transmigrated people I know of are my father's human sons, Indra and Asura, the founders of the Uchiha and Senju lines, respectively. At least once, the transmigrants have called the spirits of their progenitors into this world to talk to them. Coincidentally, you are quite familiar with one of Indra's transmigrants, I can feel the stink of his chakra on you."

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Your Uchiha teammate. I can also tell that you've met Asura's transmigrant, but I don't know who it is, since I wasn't awake at the time."

"Am I doomed to go crazy, like your mother?" she asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

The Kyuubi laughed. "Do you believe in fate, Little Rabbit?"

"No!" she shouted. "I'll make my own destiny."

"Then why worry? Asura and Indra's transmigrants act a lot like they did, but not exactly. Each time they transmigrate, their competition plays out differently. If it's any consolation, Kaguya was viewed as a benevolent goddess for much of her long life.

"To answer your original question, we're in a representation of your seal. It is connected to and mirrors your mindscape."

"Why does my mindscape look like a barren wasteland and what's the blue-moon thingy?" she asked.

"This place represents the moon and the blue orb above us is the earth. The connection to the moon you inherited from Kaguya."

"Why are you being so helpful?" she asked. "You're not what I imagined _at all_."

"I would like nothing more than to escape, Little Rabbit," he said.

"My name is Naruto, not Little Rabbit," she snarled, irritated at the condescension in the nickname.

"Ah, perhaps you are a fox in rabbit furs?" The fox laughed. "Very well, Naruto. Like I said, I would like to escape, but it's unlikely without your cooperation. I tried to influence you when your rage on the bridge summoned my chakra. However, since I was created out of Kaguya's chakra, your chakra contains an aspect that is very similar to my chakra and you can assimilate mine with very little effort. In light of that I would like to propose a partnership."

"Are you afraid I will absorb you like Zetsu?" she asked.

The fox chuckled. "The seal protects me from you, just as it does you from me. You might be able to absorb me, if you opened the seal. On the other hand, I might be able to escape when you opened it or you might burn out trying to absorb my incredible chakra reservoir. Are you willing to take the chance?"

"Before I agree to any partnership, I want to know why you attacked Konoha."

"In the days of your First Hokage, who was the previous Asura transmigrant, the Indra transmigrant, Uchiha Madara, thought to use me as his tool. He hypnotized me with his cursed Sharingan and sent me against his former friend. The Hokage's wife, Uzumaki Mito, used your clan's fuuinjutsu expertise to seal me inside herself."

"My clan were fuuinjutsu experts?" asked Naruto. "Why hasn't anyone told me?"

"I neither know nor care why you were never told of this.

"At the end of her life," the fox continued, "Mito sent for your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, to take her place as my jailer. This was right before Uzushio was destroyed."

"My mother!?" Naruto said excitedly. "What can you tell me about her?"

"Not much," admitted the Kyuubi. "She kept me chained inside her seal and it was rare that I became aware of the outside world. She had straight red hair and violet eyes. She looked much like you did before Kaguya's chakra awoke fully in you, other than her coloring. She was an excitable tomboy. That is all that I can tell you other than that her husband, your father, was Namikaze Minato, your Fourth Hokage."

"The Fourth was my father!? Why did he seal you inside me?"

"Again, I can't tell you much—other than the events that led to it," the Kyuubi said. "A female jinchuuriki's seal weakens while in childbirth. When you were being born, I tried to escape. Your father kept me locked inside the seal. A masked man with a single visible Sharingan kidnapped you and while your father was rescuing you, extracted me from your mother. He enslaved me with his cursed eye and made me attack your village, when I would have rather just have gone my own way. Your father sealed half of me into himself and half into you by summoning the Shinigami. Doing so cost him his life as the Shinigami dragged him and my yin half into its belly. Your mother died from a combination of childbirth, having me extracted—which is almost always fatal for the jinchuuriki, and being injured protecting you from me when I attacked to try and prevent being sealed again."

"So you don't know who the masked man was?" Naruto asked.

"No. Just that his eye was the mate of the Sharingan your sensei hides under his badge."

"What would this partnership entail?" asked Naruto.

"I will give you my chakra when you need it in exchange for access to your senses."

"That's it?" she asked.

"You have not idea how sick of looking at just this cell I am. The only consolation is that I'm not chained like your mother kept me. Perhaps later we can renegotiate if we come to trust each other."

"How would I do this?" she asked.

"Simply tear a corner of the seal. This will open the seal a small amount, allowing you and I greater access to each other."

Naruto hesitated. She was not sure if she could trust the fox. The mitigating factor was that she was able to absorb the fox's chakra on the bridge with no ill effects that she could tell. She thought that meant that the fox's ability to influence her was limited. In some respects, she also felt sorry for him.

"Okay, I'll do it. But if this is an attempt to escape or possess me, I'll give a try at absorbing you."

The fox snorted.

She walked closer to the gate and tore a small corner off the paper. She felt a surge of chakra, which subsided to a slight pressure which gradually became unnoticeable.

"You might notice a small degradation in your chakra control, but you have remarkably good chakra control for a human with your size of chakra reserves. It should not take much time to overcome."

"I hope this partnership works out for us both," said Naruto. "However, now I'm tired and want to sleep. How do I leave?"

"Simply will it," said the Kyuubi.

She did so and quickly fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12: Wave Goodbye

Naruto woke to Kakashi opening the door. She looked up and he signaled her to follow him. She got up and followed him outside to the docks.

"Can you tell me what happened during the fight Naruto?" her sensei asked.

She explained how the fight began and how she intervened when it looked like Hinata would falter. She explained how she and Sasuke were barely holding their own.

"Sasuke activated his Sharingan during the fight," she said with a smile.

"That's good. I'm sure he's happy about that," said her sensei.

"I activated mine too," she said. She activated her Byakugan and then opened her third eye.

"You have the Sharingan and the Byakugan both!?" Kakashi said, shocked.

She nodded. "I was surprised too. It helped me quite a bit against the ice spears that Haku was throwing at us, but only what was in front of me. The rest of my field of view was like the normal Byakugan."

"I hope that Sasuke doesn't get jealous. The Uchiha tend to suffer from that more than others. You three are doing so well together. What happened after that? You were putting out a lot of power."

"I think I tapped into the Kyuubi's power," she said.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, "I know what the Kyuubi feels like and that wasn't it."

"I talked to him while I was sleeping. He told me more about who Outsutsuki Kaguya was."

"You talked to the Kyuubi?" her sensei said worriedly.

She nodded. "Is it alright if we wait until we get back to Konoha to talk about it? I need to tell Hokage-jiichan too."

"Alright," he said reluctantly.

* * *

Anko successfully captured Gatou's mansion. The local wealth minus the cost of two A-rank missions was returned to the people of Nami no Kuni. Anko had sealed up all his documents which included bankbooks for off-shore banks in Hi no Kuni and elsewhere.

The following day they held a funeral service for Zabuza and Raiga. Naruto suggested using Zabuza's sword as a tombstone, but Asuma shot the idea down. He said that if they did that, it would just be stolen. Since the two had been part of the Seven Swordsmen, their swords were valuable to Kiri. He said that the Hokage could use them to help the Bloodline rebels or obtain concessions from Kiri.

Kakashi asked Haku and the boy that had been helping Raiga, Ranmaru, what they wanted to do.

"I would like to go with you to Konoha. Zabuza-sama told me I should find friends. I think I could be Naruto-san's friend, if she'll have me."

"I would like that," Naruto said. "I've never had many friends. A new one would be great!"

"Do you think you could be my friend too?" asked Ranmaru shyly.

"Of course!" said Naruto. "Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun will too, right guys?"

Hinata said, "I would like that."

Sasuke just grunted. He had not been pleased that Haku was hanging around. His pride had taken a hit due to their battle.

"You'll have to excuse Emo-chan," Naruto said. "He'll come around eventually."

Anko and Asuma interviewed Haku and Ranmaru and gave them both preliminary approval to come to Konoha. They said that the Hokage would give them the final answer on what options were open to them when they arrived. As the threat level was reduced to what a genin team was supposed to be able to handle, Asuma and Anko returned to Konoha.

The rest of the time in Nami passed quickly. Kakashi had them take it easy on the training saying that Naruto and Hinata needed a break. One of the two or Kakashi accompanied Tazuna to the bridge every day. When it was Naruto's turn, she usually made a bunch of Shadow Clones to help with construction.

At the end of the week, the bridge was done and Sasuke was well enough to walk. Haku had made a poultice that had helped him heal. While it did not exactly endear her to the Uchiha, he began to treat her as well as he treated anyone other than Naruto and Hinata—which is to say that he mostly ignored her rather than glaring at her as he had before. Hinata had been about to offer her own healing balm, but Naruto stopped her so that Haku would have a chance to make up for causing the injury.

* * *

The four Konoha shinobi plus the two former companions of the Kiri missing nin stood on the bridge with Tazuna and his family. The Konoha shinobi were all anxious to get home, but Naruto was also sad to be leaving. Tsunami was a nice woman and Inari had shaped up. Even the old drunk had grown on her.

Inari sniffled as he hugged Naruto and Hinata. He bowed to Sasuke and Kakashi. "I'll miss you all!" he said.

"Hey, don't worry, Inari-kun," Naruto said. "I'm sure we'll come back some time. If you're ever in Konoha, look us up, okay?"

"Okay, Neechan," he said.

With a final wave from the girls, the shinobi took off at a run.

* * *

When they arrived in Konoha, they went straight to the Hokage's office. The debriefing was short, because Asuma and Anko had already reported in. The Hokage asked Haku and Ranmaru what they wanted.

"I'd like to be a medic nin or a doctor," said Haku.

"I don't know," said Ranmaru, "I'd like a friend, I guess."

"I will find you someone to train you in medical techniques, Haku," said the Hokage. "As for a friend, I'm sure you will both find several. As a start, how about I find you an apartment to share in Naruto's building?"

"That would be great, Jiichan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Haku and Ranmaru both said.

"You'll need to have one more interview with one of the Yamanaka clan," said the Hokage. "It won't be very invasive, but we need to make sure you aren't moles."

Haku sighed and nodded. "Okay, Hokage-sama."

"I'll have someone direct you to his office," said the old man. He called in his secretary and gave instructions to her. Haku and Ranmaru followed her out.

"Hokage-sama," said Kakashi, "that's it for our team report, but there's something that Naruto-chan and I need to talk to you about."

"Very well," said the Hokage. "Hinata-kun, Sasuke-kun, you're dismissed."

Hinata and Sasuke said good-bye and left.

"Naruto-chan has awoken another bloodline and says that she's made contact with the Kyuubi," said Kakashi.

"What?!" exclaimed the Hokage.

Naruto activated her Byakugan and then opened her third eye.

"Sharingan!" said the Hokage.

Nartuo nodded. "It seems to work like I've heard described. I haven't copied any techniques, but it made tracking and predicting Haku's movements during the fight much easier."

"Can you activate it without the Byakugan?" asked the Hokage.

"I'm not sure. So far I haven't, but that might mean I just haven't figured out how."

"What's this about talking to the Kyuubi?" asked the Hokage.

"I got mad when I thought Sasuke and Hinata were going to die and I felt its chakra boiling up inside me. I wrested control of it from him and used it. My hair lengthened and became like arms or tails. Ten of them, I think. I was able to use the hair arms to shatter Haku's mirrors and capture her. Later I tried to move my hair again, but wasn't able to."

Kakashi said, "I remember what the Kyuubi felt like, both during the attack and one of the few times that its previous jinchuuriki used it, and it didn't feel like that. On the bridge, it felt like Naruto, just heavier and more oppressive."

Naruto said, "I can explain that." She went on to talk about what the Kyuubi had said about Kagaya, Hagoromo, and transmigration. "I'm worried, Jiichan. I don't want to go crazy."

The Hokage smiled. "I think you'll be fine, Naruto-chan. You've got a very good heart."

"The Kyuubi said that Kaguya was benevolent too!" she wailed, "She still went crazy!"

"The thing you need to remember, Naruto-chan," the Hokage said, "is to not only to do good, but to remember _why_ you're doing good. From the story it sounds like Kaguya wanted to protect people and bring peace, but the way she wanted to do it robbed people of being people. Remember that it's the people that are important and you'll be great."

"Thanks, Jiichan!" she said. "Oh, the Kyuubi also told me who my father is and what happened on the day I was born."

The Hokage got serious. "Naruto-kun, I want you to promise me to keep your father's identity a secret until you're a tokubetsu jounin or 18, at least."

"I promise I won't tell anyone," she said with a sigh. "It's just people have always treated me like I'm a nobody and now that I know it's not true, I can't tell anyone."

The Hokage pulled her into a hug. "Naruto-chan, you've always been someone special, no matter your parentage."

"Thanks, Jiichan," she said, "but you know what I mean."

"I do and I'm sorry it needs to be this way."

"Is there anything you can give me to prove it, in case something happens to you?" she said. "I assume I have an inheritance."

"Yes, you do have an inheritance. My student, Jiraiya-kun, has proof and your parents will. I'll give copies to Kakashi as well. I'm afraid that your apartment isn't secure enough for you to hold on to them."

"Thanks, Jiichan," she said. "The Kyuubi said that a masked man tried to kidnap me and then ripped him out of Mom."

"We've long suspected something like that happened," said the Hokage.

"He said that the masked man had a single Sharingan eye and that it was the twin to the one Sensei has."

Kakashi looked flabbergasted. He collected himself and said, "I'm afraid that is impossible, Naruto-chan. That man died. Even if he survived, Obito was one of the most loyal people I've ever met. There's no way he would betray our sensei like that."

"The Kyuubi seemed pretty positive."

"Perhaps someone came along and took the other eye?" asked the Hokage.

"If that's true it would be someone from Iwa, most likely," said Kakashi. "Sensei was pretty unpopular with them, too."

"I've never heard of any Iwa shinobi with a Sharingan, or any missing nin, either, other than Itachi. I'll ask Jiraiya-kun to look into it," said the Hokage.

"One last thing, Jiichan," Naruto said. "I want to tell Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun about the Kyuubi and Kaguya."

"Are you sure?" asked the Hokage. "I think Hinata-kun would take it well, but the Uchiha tend to get jealous."

"Yeah, that's why. I think Sasuke will take it better if it's explained to him rather than if he just wondered about it. Plus, the Kyuubi says Sasuke-kun is the transmigrant of the Rikudo Sennin's son Indra, the first Uchiha. He also said, the other son, Asura, the first Senju, is someone I've met—probably a Senju."

"What do you think, Kakashi?" said the Hokage.

"I trust Naruto-chan on this. She's gotten Sasuke-kun to open up more than anyone else has since that night."

"Alright," said the Hokage. "I'll allow it. As for the Senju transmigrant, that's somewhat tricky. My student Tsunade is the last Senju and she hasn't been in the village for a long time. However, the Senju married into a lot of clans, especially to clan heirs. In fact, I think only the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, among Konoha's clans, lack at least some Senju blood. I told you already that my wife was a Senju. And of course, the Uzumaki were an offshoot of the Senju, but I don't think you could be the transmigrant of both."

Naruto nodded. "The Kyuubi would have said if I were."

The Hokage said, "I want you to be cautious with the Kyuubi, Naruto-kun. Even if it wasn't responsible for the attack on the day of your birth, doesn't mean it has your best interest or Konoha's best interest at heart."

"Okay, Jiichan."

"Anything else from either of you?" asked the Hokage.

Both of them shook their heads.

"Good day to you then," he said, dismissing them.


	13. Chapter 13: Explanations

Naruto went to the team meeting spot at the normal time the next day. Hinata and Sasuke were arriving just as she did. This was pretty normal, as they had gotten accustomed to each other's habits. Unlike most days, no one felt like sparring. They were all working on chakra nature manipulation. Naruto was working on cutting her leaf horizontally and vertically at the same time. However, she could not concentrate as she waited for Kakashi to show. Her planned confession to her teammates was spoiling her efforts.

Hinata and Sasuke had built a little campfire and were both trying to _prevent_ their leaves from burning, having already mastered burning them with only their chakra.

"Something bothering you, Naruto-chan?" asked Hinata.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it when Kakashi-sensei gets here."

Sasuke looked up from where he was working, but didn't say anything.

Finally, their sensei arrived. "Traditionally the few days after any mission higher than D-Rank is decompression time. Realistically, you guys had that while you were still in Nami no Kuni, but I'd still like you to take today easy."

"Sensei, I'd like to talk to the team about some personal matters," Naruto said.

She activated her Byakugan to make sure no one could eavesdrop and waited until her team knelt beside her on the ground. Kakashi leaned against a tree nearby. He seemed content to let them work this out themselves.

Naruto said, "This is very personal and some of it constitutes an S-Rank secret of the village that I've received permission to talk to you about since you're my teammates and likely to find out anyway. I'm asking you not to tell anyone about what I tell you. I'm just making sure no one walks in on us."

Sasuke looked as if he were about to make a snide comment but, after seeing her obvious jitters, he opted not to.

"You know how they teach you in the Academy that the Fourth killed the Kyuubi?"

Her teammates both nodded.

"It turns out that the Kyuubi is not alive in the conventional sense. It's not really a demon; it's a mass of sentient chakra. Since chakra can be used, but not destroyed, the Kyuubi can't be killed. There are actually eight others like the Kyuubi that are collectively called the Bijuu. They are ranked by their number of tails from one to nine, with the Kyuubi being the most powerful."

"What happened to the Kyuubi, if the Fourth didn't and couldn't kill it?" asked Sasuke.

"You guys have both seen and used storage scrolls, right?" she asked.

They both nodded.

"Well, the Kyuubi is too powerful to be sealed into a scroll or other object. You have to seal it into a person. An infant works best. You know how I've never been willing to tell anyone when my birthday is?"

"It's October 10th, isn't it?" said Sasuke as he realized where the conversation was headed.

"Yes," she said quietly as she bowed her head.

"Is that why everyone treats you so poorly?" asked Hinata, who scooted over to give her a hug.

"Feh," said Sasuke. "Anyone with brains could see that there's no way a Dead Last like you could be a homicidal demon. The idiots are lucky you're not me. If they treated me like that, I would have introduced them to the phrase 'self-fulfilling prophecy.' Why you?"

"Evidently, the Kyuubi is strong enough, that not just anyone can contain it. You need to have dense chakra, and a lot of it. Really only an Uzumaki or a Senju can do it without suffering from adverse effects. According to the legend that Hokage-jiichan told me, the Rikudo Sennin gifted his eyes to his oldest son, who became the first Uchiha and he gifted his body and chakra to his second son, who became the first Senju and also the ancestor of the Uzumaki. My descent from the Sage is why I can safely contain the Kyuubi."

Sasuke nodded. "The family stories I've heard say that the Uchiha got our eyes from the Rikudo Sennin. They don't mention the Senju or Uzumaki, though."

"Don't worry, Naruto-chan," said Hinata. "We don't hold the Kyuubi against you. We think it's great that you protect us from the Kyuubi. Right, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke nodded. "Is there any benefit to being the container of a bijuu?"

She nodded. "It's a huge source of chakra that can be used with the right training. I've heard that some of the bijuu give bloodline-like abilities to their containers. From what I understand, while my stamina, chakra, and healing are all high thanks to being an Uzumaki, they're further enhanced by being the Kyuubi's container."

"Is being the container the reason for your sudden change in appearance and getting the Byakugan?" Sasuke asked.

"Not directly," she replied. "Mizuki was one of those that thought I was the Kyuubi. He set me up to take the fall for a crime that he was committing, but some missing nin found out about it and kidnapped me so that they could take the Kyuubi from me—something that I understand is almost always fatal.

"While I was kidnapped, this weird creature named Zetsu thought that my chakra was like his mother's. He took off the chakra-suppressors they had on me so that he could examine me. While he was examining me, I noticed that his chakra was a lot like mine—only it had a disgusting, evil feel to it. I tried to absorb and purify his chakra, which I was able to do. That's when my appearance changed and I got the Byakugan."

"How odd," said Hinata. "Have you found out anything about this Zetsu or his mother?"

"Not about Zetsu, but I have about his so-called mother, Outsutsuki Kaguya. While you two were passed out on the bridge in Nami, I accessed the Kyuubi's power to boost my own. Afterwards it talked to me and told me about Kaguya."

She told them about Kaguya being the origin of chakra, her insanity and defeat by her sons, and transmigration.

"So you could be more powerful than the Kyuubi?" asked Sasuke. Naruto could tell his jealousy was starting to act up a little.

She shook her head. "I may have the potential to be that, but I'm pretty sure I would have to absorb all the Bijuu to do so. I'm a little scared to even try. I don't want to go crazy like Kaguya did. Plus, the Bijuu all have personalities—absorbing them would be like killing my. . . step-children, I guess you could call them. I wouldn't want to do that unless they deserved it."

"But the Kyuubi killed dozens, if not hundreds," said Hinata. "How could it not deserve it? What if they're all like that?"

"When I talked to the Kyuubi, it seemed pretty reasonable," Naruto said.

Sasuke snorted. "Reasonable? The Kyuubi? Are you sure you aren't already going crazy?"

Naruto and Hinata both glared at the dark-haired boy.

"Maybe it was reasonable because I have a certain amount of leverage over it, but it also told me what happened on the day of my birth."

She told them about her mother being the previous jinchuuriki, but kept her name and the fact that the Fourth was her husband and Naruto's father a secret due to the Hokage's request. She told them about the masked man with the single Sharingan, which the Kyuubi had identified as being the twin to Kakashi's Sharingan.

"Sensei thinks that someone from Iwa took your cousin Obito-san's remaining eye, Sasuke-kun, and that was who did it," she said. "Whoever it was, has been keeping a low profile."

Sasuke looked furious. "Sensei, why did you leave his body there? Didn't you know this would happen?"

Kakashi spoke from where he was leaning. "Obito-kun was trapped under a large boulder, including half his face. We were in enemy territory and in a terrible rush and Obito-kun was moments away from dying. Rin-chan and I both thought that his other eye was crushed. In hindsight, it was a very poor decision, but that day was one horrible event after another. Neither Rin-chan nor I were thinking right. That day was one of the worst in my life—and I've had a bunch of really bad days. I was a 13-year-old jounin leading my first mission. Incidents like that are why Konoha stopped promoting kids so rapidly."

The group was silent for a moment before Naruto said, "I have just two more things to mention. The Kyuubi identified one of my friends as a fellow transmigrant and said that I had run into a third, but it wasn't aware enough at the time I had contact with the other transmigrant to identify him."

She paused, "Sasuke, according to the Kyuubi, you're the transmigrant of Outsutsuki Indra, the first Uchiha."

Sasuke and Hinata were both stunned.

"What does this mean for me?" asked Sasuke.

"It means that you're likely to be quite powerful," said Naruto. "However, the Kyuubi implied that the reason that Indra and his brother Asura have had so many transmigrants is that they died with lots of regrets and unfinished business. You need to be careful not to repeat Indra's mistakes, just as I need to be careful not to repeat Kaguya's."

Sasuke nodded. He looked both satisfied and contemplative. "The other transmigrant is Asura's, isn't it?" he asked.

Naruto nodded. "It's probably someone with Senju or Uzumaki blood, but with how many Senju married into other families, that doesn't narrow it down much."

"The last thing is. . ." She paused. She was actually pretty nervous about how Sasuke would take the last announcement. "Because Kaguya was the source of all the great Doujutsu, I ended up with the Sharingan, too." She sent more chakra to her eyes in order to open her third eye. The view in front of her sharpened accordingly.

Sasuke stared at her and then closed his eyes. When he opened them, each of his eyes looked like her third eye—red with a dot in the center and a single, spinning tomoe circling it with the orbit of the tomoe being marked a thin circle. Sasuke was silent for several moments before giving a bark of laughter. "You're the only person I know whose life might be worse than mine. It's only fitting that your karma balance out somehow."

Naruto gave him a grateful smile.

The three genin were silent. Kakashi spoke, "Naruto-chan has given you both lots to think about. I'll add that discussing what Naruto talked about with others is forbidden and leaking the information carries the death penalty, so please don't. We'll dismiss for the day and resume training tomorrow."

* * *

Training resumed. In addition to elemental manipulation, the three genin worked on weapons techniques.

Sasuke worked on perfecting his wire techniques and started working on harder ones.

Hinata got Haku to help her learn to throw senbon needles. She had an idea to charge the senbon with chakra to do remote Gentle Fist strikes. It seemed to work, but was more difficult due to the time it took the senbon to travel to the target making hitting the tiny tenketsu harder.

Kakashi introduced Naruto to bolas, but she had to work it out mostly herself using training manuals. The first time she managed to wrap herself up, was embarrassing. Sasuke's self-satisfied smirk was worse than usual that day.

After about a month, Hinata and Naruto were decent with their new weapons. Targeting with the bolas were more forgiving than senbon, so Naruto was better off with her new weapons. Sasuke was pleased with his advancement in wire techniques.

Additionally, Kakashi trained Sasuke and Naruto in the use of the Sharingan. Both genin had advanced their Sharingan to two tomoe.

One morning Kakashi said, "If everything goes as I expect, we'll be leaving on a C-Rank mission later today. You may know that the Chuunin Exams are coming up. I've decided to enter you. Normally, I'd let you think about this up until the day of the exam, but I need to know how you feel about the exams because of our potential mission."

"I'm ready for them, Sensei!" exclaimed Naruto.

"I welcome them," said Sasuke.

The two looked at Hinata. She shuffled her feet a little. Finally, she said, "If you think we're ready, I'm willing, Sensei."

Kakashi told her, "This is about what you think, Hinata-chan, not me or even your teammates."

She steeled herself and said, "I'll do it, Sensei."

Kakashi smiled with his eye. "Excellent. Our mission is to deliver the formal invitation for the Exams to Daimyo-sama. This mission is always given to a team of promising young genin that will be participating. Hokage-sama was going to give this mission to Gai-kun's team, but Gai-kun is a little. . . overwhelming for Daimyo-sama's court. Hokage-sama is very pleased with your progress and thought that introducing the Uchiha and Hyuuga heirs to the court would do Konoha good politically."

Hinata and Sasuke nodded.

Kakashi eye smiled again. "Good then there's only one thing left to do. If we're going to court, Naruto needs a new outfit."

Naruto looked down at her orange jumpsuit. She was about to protest, but stopped and sighed. Now that she had friends, she was not so starved for attention. Plus, she did not want to embarrass Hinata, Sasuke, or Konoha.

"Okay, Sensei." She turned to Hinata. "Can you help me pick out something, Hinata-chan?"

"I'd be happy to, Naruto-chan," she said.


	14. Chapter 14: Important Encounters

Naruto hesitantly walked up to the bridge where her team normally met. Hinata was walking beside her and she could see that Sasuke and Kakashi were already there. She was wearing one of her new outfits which was the reason for her nervousness.

Sasuke looked up at them and his jaw dropped. "Dead Last, you look like a girl!"

"I _am_ a girl, Jerk!" she responded.

Sasuke grunted. "I know that, Idiot. You are normally so much of a tomboy, that if it weren't for your doll-like face, nobody could tell."

She looked away. "It wasn't really safe to remind people I was a girl, so I always wore baggy clothing. Hinata-chan convinced me to wear form-fitting clothing because it was quieter." She glared at Hinata. "I don't think that's fair because she always hides her figure underneath that bulky jacket and she has the best figure of anyone in our class!"

Hinata turned crimson. " _Naruto-chan_ , I'm not the stealth expert on our team!" she hissed.

Naruto smirked at her petty revenge. Naruto's new outfit was formfitting and contoured without being tight. The tailoring had taken a small amount of extra time, but Hinata said it would cut down on rustling when she moved. Realistically, Naruto's feminine figure was just barely developing, _but_ the new outfit made a stark contrast to the baggy jumpsuit she used to wear.

She was wearing dark-blue pants with a dark-orange stripe up the side of each leg. She was wearing a dark-green long-sleeve shirt. Over the shirt was a dark-orange vest. The pants and vest together emphasized her hips, which she thought were starting to develop nicely, although showing them off was embarrassing. The vest also showed that she had a small bust. She was wearing a dark-green belt with her Leaf Badge over the buckle. She had a black weapons holster on each thigh. Rather than pouches, she had pockets in her pants and vest. Her hair was still to her mid back, but was gathered into a loose ponytail by two dark-green bows—one at her neck and one near the end of the ponytail. She had opted for something that would be easy to undo so that she could use her hair as a weapon again—if she figured out how.

Naruto thought the dark colors contrasted well with her pale coloring, but would also help her blend in when sneaking. She was glad that she had managed to get some orange in it, as she had become attached to the color, even if it wasn't the bright orange she had used up until now. Hinata had said that she would help her make a knit cap to cover her hair for sneaking. It had to be specially made due to her ear-like protrusions.

"Looking good, Naruto-chan," Kakashi commented.

* * *

The trip to the capitol went smoothly. They jogged at a comfortable pace so that they wouldn't be too worn out when they got there. They had one overnight stop-over. While Kakashi and Sasuke set up camp, Kakashi had Hinata teach Naruto how to bow properly and what kind of responses were appropriate for the likely scenarios they would encounter.

"Under no circumstances are you to call Daimyo-sama Jiichan, Naruto-chan," Kakashi commanded.

The formal reception in front of the Daimyo's court was boring. The only thing required of them was to present the list and to formally present themselves to the court. As they were leaving the audience, an attendant caught Kakashi's attention and motioned for them to follow him.

The attendant led them to a smaller audience chamber. About five minutes after they arrived, four of the Twelve Ninja Guardians arrived through another door. After the four took their places, the Daimyo entered followed by two more of the Twelve.

"Ah, Kakashi-san," said the Daimyo, "I wanted to meet with you and your genin more privately. I usually don't do this, but your team has some of the bright, upcoming lights of Hi no Kuni—the Uchiha and Hyuuga heirs and. . . Uzumaki Naruto-kun." The Daimyo sounded like he was mentally saying a different family name for her. He must know who her parents were. "Please give me a short description of your training accomplishments."

The three genin each gave a brief description of what they had trained in.

"So advanced," said the Daimyo. "Advanced weapons skills and beginning elemental manipulation. I'm impressed and pleased, Kakashi-san. Konoha and Hi no Kuni are in good hands. I look forward to seeing you three compete." He looked at Naruto for a moment. "I see you have your mother's beauty, but it seems you have your father's temperament, which makes me happy. I had heard that you had your father's coloring. Was this in error?"

"An accident with some missing nin, Daimyo-sama," she replied.

The Daimyo looked at Kakashi who nodded. "Indeed?" the Daimyo said, "I'll have to send to Hokage-dono to get a report on this. I'm glad that you escaped mostly unharmed. Your loss would be a tragedy for Hi no Kuni."

Naruto bowed her thanks, the Daimyo thanked them for coming and withdrew. Afterwards, Kakashi led them out of the city.

As they were leaving the palace, Sasuke started to speak, but Kakashi silenced him with shake of his head.

After they were a few kilometers from the city, Kakashi stopped them and they made camp. After the necessary things were done, Kakashi said, "I suppose you have some questions about what the Daimyo said."

"I've been thinking about what the Daimyo said about Naruto-chan," said Sasuke. "He made it sound as if her parents were important. The only important blond man I can think of besides, Ino's dad is the F. . ."

"Stop!" commanded Kakashi. "Naruto's parentage is an S-class secret. Please, don't utter any guesses."

"Why did Daimyo-sama leave so many clues as to who they were, then?" asked Hinata.

"Hokage-sama wanted to keep Naruto-chan's heritage a secret to protect her from her parent's enemies both within and without Konoha. Daimyo-sama favored letting people know, in order to raise morale after the Kyuubi Attack, but keeping her under heavy guard. Although Hokage-sama reports to Daimyo-sama, he has a lot of independence where Konoha's internal affairs are concerned. Daimyo-sama conceded to Hokage-sama's plan reluctantly. This was his way of pointing Naruto-chan in the right way if she didn't know already, as a form of petty vengeance."

Naruto pouted. "I can kind of see Jiichan's point in keeping my parentage a secret—although it did stink that everyone said I was the kid of a criminal or prostitute. I think he should have told me though. I get the sense that he only told me about my mother due to the kidnapping. I had to find out who my father was from the _Kyuubi_ , of all people." She looked at Kakashi. "Hokage-jiichan told me I act a lot like my mother. Why did the Daimyo say I acted like my father?"

Kakashi laughed. "The first time your mother met the Daimyo, she threatened to rip out his intestines and feed them to him for not sending enough aid to save Uzushio and Uzu no Kuni. She was young and important for being the new jinchuuriki and Daimyo-sama was somewhat sympathetic, so he let it go. Your father was given to cold rages when mad, while your mother was very hot blooded. The fact that you were polite made a good first impression on him."

* * *

The trip back was uneventful. During the debriefing, the Hokage commanded the genin to not mention anything the Daimyo said about Naruto's parents and to keep any speculation of Naruto's heritage silent. He then asked Kakashi to remain behind and dismissed the genin.

As they were leaving the tower, Naruto asked, "Want to get something to eat?"

"Sure," said Sasuke, "as long as it's not ramen."

Naruto pouted while Hinata giggled and Sasuke smirked.

As they walked, Naruto noticed a square box with eye holes following them. She didn't even need to use her Byakugan to know who it was. She decided to ignore it.

Both Hinata and Sasuke signed, _Box?_

 _Kids play. Ignore_ , she responded.

They had a nice lunch at an udon stand, although she would have preferred ramen. When they left the box was waiting for them.

Naruto sighed. "Come on out, Kono-chan," she said.

The box was tossed up and smoke billowed forth.

"Too much gunpowder," a kid's voice whined.

As the smoke dissipated, Konohamaru said, "I'm Konohamaru, the next Hokage!"

A girl his age with orange hair tied in two fat pigtails that stuck up from her head at angles said, "I'm Moegi, the sassiest young kunoichi!"

A dark-haired boy with glasses and a dripping nose said, "I'm Udon. I like algebra."

"Together, we are the Konohamaru Corps!" they all said. All of them were wearing goggles similar to the ones Naruto used to wear. She had not seen them since before she left for Nami no Kuni.

"Boss!" said Konohamaru, "Don't call me 'chan.' I'm not a little kid."

Naruto snorted. "When you stop acting like a little kid, I'll stop treating you like one. That disguise was pathetic!"

 _The loud one is Asura's transmigrant_ , a deep voice growled from within her.

"What?!" she yelled.

 _Simply think at me,_ _Step-mother_ , the voice sneered. _You don't have to speak to me aloud._

 _Kyuubi? I wasn't serious about the step-mother comment_ , she replied.

The Kyuubi cackled. _Just because we're partners doesn't mean I can't torment you. Your_ _friends_ _are probably wondering what's going on_. The Kyuubi's mental voice dripped sarcasm, especially when it uttered the word "friends."

When she looked around at her friends they were all staring at her—Sasuke with amusement, Hinata and the others with concern.

"Sorry, just had a bad. . . flashback," she said while signing to her teammates, _Explanations later._

"Boss!" exclaimed Konohamaru. "How come you look like a girl?"

"I've always been a girl, Kono- _chan_ ," she said irritatedly.

"I know that, Boss Lady, but you've always been a tomboy. Is it because of him?" He pointed at Sasuke. "Is he your. . . boyfriend?"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other. Sasuke turned away and grunted. "Like I'd date the Dead Last."

Naruto yelled, "No way!" and made barfing noises.

"I knew it!" Konohamaru crowed. "They're protesting way too much for it not to be true."

Naruto stopped and glared at Konohamaru. 'This is why I didn't want to give up my jumpsuit,' she thought to herself. She spared Hinata a withering look before turning back to Kohohamaru. "Run!" she growled. Her hair started to come loose form its bows.

Konohamaru stopped cackling and said, "What?"

"I'd run if I were you, Kono- _chan_!" she said as she took a menacing step forward. She activated her Byakugan to look more intimidating. She saw that her hair had started to clump into ten segments as it writhed. She throttled her anger back a little, since she only wanted to scare him, but her hair kept moving.

"Scary!" Konohamaru whimpered before turning and running. Moegi and Udon raced after him.

She cackled and gave chase. Her anger dissipated as she chased them. She dismissed her Byakugan as she didn't need it and didn't want to alarm any ANBU watching them. Before she turned it off, she saw that Hinata and Sasuke were following her. The chase led them first into a residential area and then the main market area.

She turned a corner to see Konohamaru being held by a boy in a black jumpsuit. The boy had purple markings on his face and was wearing a hood with "ears" and was carrying a bandage-wrapped bundle on his back. He had a Sand Badge on his hood. Next to him was a blonde girl in a light-purple outfit. Her hair was gathered in four spiky pigtails. A Sand Badge hung around her neck and she had a large folded fan on her back.

"Stupid brat," said the boy. "I'll teach you to run into me." He cocked his fist back in preparation to hit Konohamaru.

"Just let the kid go, Kankurou-kun," said the girl. "It's not worth causing a ruckus over."

"Got to teach the brat to respect his betters, Temari-chan," the boy responded.

"If you get us kicked out. . ." she replied.

"It's just a brat."

"I'd listen to your teammate, Suna nin," Naruto called out.

"I'm just going to teach the brat some manners, Konoha nin," he sneered. "You want a piece of me too?"

"I'd say to save it for the Exams, Suna nin," she said, "but you're obviously too stupid to make it that far."

"Why, you!" yelled Kankurou as he started to remove the bundle from his back.

Konohamaru took the opportunity to scamper away. By this time Sasuke and Hinata had caught up and were bracketing her.

Naruto turned to the girl and bowed. "Temari-san, my name is Naruto. I suggest you control your teammate before he has you expelled from the village for assaulting the Hokage's grandson."

Temari turned to her teammate and smacked him in the back of the head. "Idiot, are you trying to get us killed?"

Just to rub it in, Naruto added with a smirk, "I can also suggest some traps to keep him out of your makeup."

"It's face paint!" he yelled.

Temari chuckled. "I apologize for my little brother. He was dropped a few too many times as a kid."

"Temari. . ." Kankuro growled.

"There's another one in the tree," Hinata said quietly.

All five of them looked at the tree. A redheaded boy was standing on a branch. Kankurou and Temari paled. The redhead had the kanji for love in red above his left eye and dark circles around his eye. He was dressed in a black jumpsuit and had a large gourd held on his back through an arrangement of leather straps.

He Flickered down to stand beside Kankurou. "Kankurou, you are a disgrace. Behave or I'll kill you," the redhead said in a creepy monotone.

"Yes, Gaara-san," said the hooded boy.

Gaara turned and looked at the three Konoha genin. He seemed to dismiss Hinata and Sasuke, but stared at Naruto before smiling in a sinister manner. "Are you participating in the Chuunin Exams?" he asked.

"Yes," she responded tersely, not liking the way he looked at her.

"Perhaps you will validate my existence," he said. He turned and walked off calling, "Temari, Kankurou, come."

 _The redheaded monkey is the container of another of your_ _step-children_ _, the Ichibi no Tanuki_ , the Kyuubi said.

 _Wonderful_ , she responded.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As there has been some confusion in the reviews about -chan vs. -kun, I'd ask anyone wanting to know how I use the honorifics to look at the first chapter explanation. However, to explain further: Naruto uses -chan here for Konohamaru to imply he's a little kid, not to imply he's a girl. The Daimyo uses -kun for Naruto to imply that she's a junior colleague (he's trying to be friendly). The Hokage does this for Naruto and other young kunoichi too, unless he's being grandfatherly, then he'll use -chan.

In this story, -dono indicates high regard without submission. Daimyos will use it for Kages and Kages will use it for each other. High-ranking shinobi might use it to refer to a Kage or Daimyo not their own.


	15. Chapter 15: The First Exam

Three days later, the three genin approached the Academy building to begin the Chuunin Exams. A large crowd of genin were waiting to enter the building.

"What do you think, guys?" said Naruto. "Should we join the throng or skip to the third floor?" They were supposed to head to room 301.

"I say we bypass these losers," said Sasuke.

"You would say that, Emo-chan," smirked Naruto.

Sasuke grunted. "Like you want to deal with them either, Dead Last."

"I don't know, Emo-chan. Don't you want to show off?" Naruto asked.

"Well, maybe a little," he admitted, "but not to this rabble. Most of these guys are Konoha shinobi that will likely never get promoted, based on their age." Most of them were in their late teens and early twenties—past the age when "elite" shinobi were already chuunin, if not jounin.

"Be nice, Naruto-chan, Sasuke-kun," said Hinata. "Most of these don't have clans to support them."

Sasuke and Naruto both snorted. "You know what I mean," said Hinata, "even if your clans aren't around, you both have high chakra reserves and other advantages."

Naruto supposed that was true, while she had never had anyone really teach her before Kakashi, she had been placed on a team with two clan heirs which gave her a leg up on these others. This did not count her Bloodline Abilities, the chakra reserves to pull of insane numbers of Shadow Clones, or the Kyuubi to provide even more chakra.

"Regardless," Sasuke said, "let's avoid them."

The girls both nodded.

"I know the best way to sneak to the third floor," Naruto said.

"Of course you do," Sasuke smirked. "You've had to sneak in after being chased around all morning after a stupid prank. Haven't you, Dead Last?"

Naruto stuck her nose in the air and said, as haughtily as she could manage, "I'll have you know that none of my pranks are stupid, Emo-chan."

"Whatever," said Sasuke. "Just lead the way, Dead Last."

Naruto activated her Byakugan as she led them around to the back of the building. "We're in luck," she said. "There's an open window on the third floor. We can just walk up the wall."

The three of them used chakra to walk up the wall and climbed in the window. They exited the empty class room into the third floor. They noticed people entering a room at the far end of the wall. From experience, they knew this was room 301. As they approached the door to room 301, Naruto noticed Kakashi in one of the side rooms. He Flickered in front of them. Naruto smirked. The Byakugan took some of the mystique out of their sensei's tricks.

"I knew that you would all show up together due to our last mission," he said, "but there are formalities to observe. Only full teams of three genin can compete in the Chuunin Exams. I want to wish you good luck and remind you to look after each other."

"Will do, Sensei," said Naruto. "Thanks for the well wishes."

Sasuke simply smirked and Hinata did a quick bow in acknowledgment.

"Wait a second," said Naruto. She grabbed Sasuke's arm as he was about to enter and pulled him off to the side. Hinata followed them. "Let Hinata and I scope the competition."

Kakashi lingered to hear what Naruto and Hinata would say.

Hinata and Naruto focused their Byakugan's on the room. Three chakra signatures grabbed Naruto's attention and two others were suspicious. The rest of them were normal genin or chuunin level signatures.

"I see five unusual chakra signatures," she said. "One of them we've already met: Gaara from Suna. He easily has jounin reserves and remember what I told you about him."

Sasuke and Hinata nodded.

"I also see someone with even more chakra as well as something weird with her chakra core. She's a green-haired girl from Taki."

"I think she might be like you and Gaara-san, Naruto-chan," said Hinata.

"I think so too," said Naruto. "The next is a red-haired girl from Kusa. She has jounin-level chakra."

"She does, but it doesn't look refined," said Hinata, "so it could be she just has naturally high reserves."

"Red hair and high chakra reserves, you say?" said Kakashi. "I wonder if she's an Uzumaki."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "That would be awesome!"

"Just be careful," said Kakashi. "Even if she's a distant cousin, she's from a different village and will have a different agenda. Since you don't have the trademark red hair and due to your recent changes, she may not even believe you're an Uzumaki."

Naruto pouted. If the Kusa nin was a relative she wanted to know. However, she knew that Kakashi was right.

"There are two others that have their chakra suppressed, so that I can't get a reading on them. A feminine-looking older boy from Kusa with a straw hat and long, dark hair and an older, silver-haired, glasses-wearing boy from Konoha."

"You can tell that their chakra is suppressed?" asked Kakashi with interest.

"Yeah, it's denser than normal, but not uniformly. It's densest around their gates. I've had to learn how to suppress my chakra in order to be stealthy for my pranks, and I've seen how my clones look when they suppress theirs."

"I see what you mean, Naruto-chan," said Hinata.

"Interesting," said Kakashi. "While suppressing chakra is something most jounin can do, it _is_ unusual for genin to do it. Those two may just have large reserves they want to hide, like you, Naruto-chan, but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious around them."

"Even the Konoha nin?" asked Hinata.

Kakashi responded, "While I'd like to think that a Konoha shinobi wouldn't hurt another Konoha shinobi, he is a competitor in the Exams. Even if he doesn't want to harm you, he may try and knock you out of the Exams. You three ought to head in. Good luck, again." He gave his patented "eye smile" and disappeared in a Flicker.

A few teams had entered while they were talking about what Naruto and Hinata had seen with their Bloodline, but none of them contained anyone they knew. The three looked at each other and entered the room. They handed their forms to a chuunin at the door. Almost immediately their ears were assaulted by high-pitched shrieks of "Sasuke-kun!"

Ino jumped on Sasuke's back and said, "Did you miss me, Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura shrieked, "Get off my Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!"

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Fangirls!" Naruto sneered.

Sasuke looked at them pleadingly, but Naruto just shook her head and grabbed Hinata's arm. No way was she getting into a screaming match with Sakura or Ino.

"So you guys are involved in this troublesome exam too, eh?" Shikamaru said as he and Chouji made themselves known. Shikamaru was slumped over with his hands in his pockets while Chouji was munching on chips.

"Hey, Shika-kun, Chouji-kun," said Naruto. "Although it looks like it's way more troublesome for Sasuke-kun."

"Sasuke-kun, eh?" said Shikamaru. "You've made your peace with him, then?"

"Eh, Emo-chan isn't that bad once he decides you aren't useless," said Naruto.

"Hah, so why do you think he gets along with you, Bunny-chan?" said Kiba who also joined their group.

"Akamaru," Naruto said dryly, "can't you keep your puppy under control?"

Akamaru yipped amusedly while Kiba gave an exaggerated "Hah, hah."

"You guys should keep it down," said the silver-haired boy that Naruto had noticed was suppressing his chakra earlier. "You rookies are attracting too much attention to yourselves."

"So you've taken the Exam before?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke had managed to free himself. He stepped up beside Naruto and gave her an irritated look. Naruto simply shrugged in response.

"Yes," the silver-haired boy responded. "This is my seventh time."

"Wow," said Kiba. "You must suck."

"Or maybe the Exams are just that hard," the older boy said. "Look, since you guys are rookies from my village, I'll help you out." He pulled out a stack of cards. "These are my Nin Info Cards. They have information on the various villages and contestants."

"Those are blank," said Kiba.

"I just have them encoded with my chakra for security." He channeled some chakra and a map of the Elemental Nations appeared with some numbers that Naruto assumed were the number of contestants from each.

"The information is that special?" asked Sasuke sarcastically.

"Not really," the boy said. "It's pulled mostly from public databases, but any little bit helps, you know?" He looked at them. "Anyone or anything you want to know about?"

"How about the three contestants you think will be the toughest?" asked Kiba.

"How about your own card?" asked Sasuke.

"My own card," he laughed. "You're lucky I'm obsessive else I wouldn't have one of these for myself: Yakushi Kabuto. Completed 30 C-rank missions and 327 D-rank missions. Teammates are Akadou Youroi and Tsurugi Misumi under jounin Suzuki Hideo. A certified medic nin." He looked up. "I'm nothing special." He shuffled his cards. As for the three toughest contestants, I'll go with: Sabaku no Gaara of Suna, Hyuuga Neji of Konoha, and Uchiha Sasuke, also of Konoha."

Kiba snorted at the last name while Naruto elbowed Sasuke and whispered, "Don't be getting a big head now."

Sasuke grunted in response.

"Sabaku no Gaara. Completed 1 B-rank and 8 C-ranks. Teammates are his siblings Temari and Kankurou under jounin Baki. I don't have much on him since he's not from here, but rumor in Suna is that he's never been even scratched on any missions.

"Hyuuga Neji. Completed 16 C-ranks and 416 D-ranks. Teammates are Tenten and Rock Lee under jounin Maito Gai. He was last year's Rookie of the Year and has been touted as a genius. He is very proficient in the Hyuuga Gentle Fist taijutsu style and the Hyuuga Byakugan Bloodline.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Completed 2 C-ranks and 62 D-ranks. Teammates are Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto under jounin Hatake Kakashi. He was this year's Rookie of the Year and also rated as a genius. He has the Uchiha Sharingan Bloodline Ability which he awoke recently and is rumored to have helped free Nami no Kuni from a warlord along with his team."

Sasuke frowned. Naruto thought it was the mention of his Bloodline. Sakura and Ino both shrieked and yammered about "their Sasuke-kun" being a hero.

"Even not counting the elite genin like Sasuke, Neji, and Gaara, there are tough contestants from all over: Konoha, Kusa, Taki, Ame, and even a new village called Oto. They're all going to be tough, except for possibly the new guys."

Naruto felt a killing intent focus on their group, she turned to see three shinobi from Oto approaching. She activated her Byakugan.

"Put this on your cards, Tree Hugger: the shinobi from Oto will definitely make Chuunin," the lead Oto shinobi said. He swung his right fist at Kabuto. He had a metal device with holes in it on his forearm.

Kabuto dodged, but then bent over and started puking while holding his ears. Kiba and Akamaru both whined and Kiba put his head over his ears. Naruto had noticed waves of chakra coming out of the device. She looked at Sasuke and Hinata. "Sound?" she whispered. It made sense given the name of their village.

"I think so," Sasuke whispered back. Hinata nodded.

"All right, you pukes!" came a stern voice. Everyone looked away from the spectacle and saw that a scarred man with a bandana covering his head was now at the front of the room. "If you haven't picked a number for your seat, do so now, and sit down. You Oto clowns pull a stunt like this again and you're out of here, understand?"

"Sorry, Sir," the Oto shinobi who had attacked Kabuto said, "We're just excited to be here."

Naruto picked up a number from a chuunin and went to her seat. The only person near her that she knew was Aburame Shino. The proctor, Morino Ibiki, explained the rules: ten questions and ten points, one point off for missing a question, two points off for being caught cheating, and if you reached zero points, your whole team was disqualified. Nine of the questions were on a written test with the last to be given later.

Naruto felt her heart sink as she saw that it was a written test. She looked at the test and saw that she had no idea how to answer any of them. She idly started doodling on the top of her exam. She looked around and saw people cheating. She thought about the rules again and found it odd that you got points off for cheating rather than disqualification. She remembered one of Kakashi's favorite phrases: look underneath the underneath.

She decided that cheating without being caught was the point of the test. She put her arm on her desk and then rested her head on her arm so that the veins that popped out when she used her Byakugan weren't visible. She activated it and found that there were several people already done or nearly done. She compared answers and chose which ones she thought were right and memorized them. She sat up again and started filling out answers.

After she finished, she laid her head down again and started to doze. She awoke to Ibiki giving the additional rules for the tenth question.

"You can choose to take the question or not. If you don't take it, you and your teammates are done, but your career is safe. If you take it and get it wrong, you'll be a genin for life. I have agreements from the leaders of all your villages to honor this rule."

Various contestants protested, but Naruto just snorted. Being safe was not what being a shinobi was about. She doubted that Ibiki had the Hokage's okay for his rule, but she was willing to risk it. She looked at her teammates and nodded firmly. Sasuke nodded too, but Hinata looked hesitant.

Several contestants got up and left. Naruto noticed that they included some of those that she had thought had the right answers. The tension mounted and a wave of contestants got up, until almost half of the seats were empty.

Hinata was starting to waver again. In response, Naruto stood up and slammed her fist on her desk. "Being a shinobi is _not_ about being safe!" she shouted. "I personally don't think you have the authority to prevent me from being chuunin, but even if you do, I'm willing to risk it. If I need to, I'll be the first ever genin promoted to Kage!"

The tension building in the room shattered and no one else left. Ibiki frowned and let them stew for another minute.

"Very well," he said. "You all want to take the tenth question?" Nods answered his question. "Then you all pass."

The room erupted in questions about the absence of the tenth question. Ibiki explained that chuunin are expected to take risks. He took off his bandana and showed them more of his scars that he had gotten in the line of duty. Someone asked about the purpose of the first nine questions and he explained that chuunin were expected to be resourceful. Naruto only half listened as she started doodling again. Ibiki was even dryer than Iruka.

Suddenly, one of the windows shattered and a banner unfolded along the wall opposite with kunai keeping it in place. A figure flew though the broken window and landed underneath the banner which read: "The Sexy and Single Second Exam Proctor: Mitarashi Anko!"

"This is no time to celebrate! Mitarahi Anko is the proctor for the next exam!" she yelled.


	16. Chapter 16: The Forest of Death

The whole room just stared at Anko.

"You're early," said Ibiki.

Anko chuckled sheepishly for a moment and then looked around the room. "What?! So many? You losing your touch, Ibiki-kun?"

"We've got a good bunch this time," he replied.

"Hah!" she said. "I'll cut them in half, at least."

She looked around the room. "Okay, brats. Follow me to Training Ground 44. You have half an hour to get there." She jumped out the window and ran away.

Ibiki sighed. "If you don't know how to get there. See one of my assistants for a map."

Naruto approached her teammates. Sasuke grabbed a map.

"Let's go," he said.

As they jogged to the training ground, Naruto asked Hinata, "Why were you going to give up, Hinata-chan? Don't you have faith in yourself by now?"

Hinata looked down as they ran. "It's not that, Naruto-chan. I just didn't want to ruin your dream of being Hokage."

Naruto lightly hit her in the shoulder. "Thanks for thinking of me, Hinata-chan, but I meant what I said to Ibiki-san. I'll be Hokage, even if I have to be promoted from genin. Life's too short to second guess oneself."

"Okay, Naruto-chan. I'll try and have more faith in you."

"Hey, it's not just me. Have faith in yourself and faith in our team. Remember that the Hokage picked us to invite the Daimyo. We're going to steam roll this thing."

"The Dead Last is right. We're the team to beat," said Sasuke.

"Let's just avoid fighting the other jinchuuriki, if we can help it," said Naruto. "I don't want things to escalate out of control."

* * *

At the entrance to the training ground, the chuunin hopefuls clumped up by village. The Konoha rookies all congregated together. Naruto and Hinata smirked as Ino and Sakura mobbed Sasuke again. Kiba was trying not-so-subtly to put the moves on Hinata. This mainly consisted of loud boasting.

Signs were placed on the gates that read:

Training Ground 44

Forest of Death

Keep Out

"Forest of Death, eh?" Kiba said loudly. "More like Forest of Easy Pickings."

A kunai grazed Kiba's cheek. He slapped a hand to the scratch and yipped like a small dog.

"It's always the loud ones that die first," said Anko from right behind Kiba.

The dark-haired, feminine Kusa nin that Naruto thought might be suppressing his chakra, presented the kunai to Anko with his tongue from behind her. "Here's your kunai, proctor-san," he said.

"You ought to be more careful about sneaking up behind me," said Anko. "Shinobi reflexes are dangerous."

"I just got excited due to the blood and the loss of some of my precious hair," said the Kusa nin in a too-sweet tenor.

Anko rolled her eyes. "Okay, tough guy."

Anko projected her voice. "Listen up everyone. I'm going to explain the rules." She told them that each team would get one of two scrolls. The object of the test was to get to the tower in the center of the large training ground with both types of scrolls and your full team. They could use any method they wanted to get the scroll they needed from another team. They had 120 hours (five days exactly) to do it.

"Five days!?" shouted Chouji. "What will we do for food?"

"Are you shinobi or not?" responded Anko. "Find your own food. The forest has plenty of things to hunt for food, if it doesn't get you first.

"Since it's likely that some of you will die in there, I have consent forms that remind you of the dangers and waive Konoha's liability and, more importantly, mine. When everyone on your team has signed one, you can exchange it for a Heaven or an Earth Scroll. A proctor will show you to a gate. The Second Exam will start in half an hour."

Naruto and her teammates retrieved the forms. Naruto skimmed through it and signed it. The three of them exchanged their scrolls for a Heaven Scroll which Naruto stashed inside her vest. A chuunin guided them to one of the many gates on this side of the training ground. The chuunin let them in when his pocket watch got to the appropriate time.

Without words, Team Seven got into their standard formation. Naruto made twelve clones that activated the Byakugan and Disguised themselves as foxes. The clones bracketed them in pairs and ran parallel to them about 50 meters distant. Hinata led, followed by Sasuke and then Naruto.

After they had traveled for about 15 minutes, Naruto whistled the signal to halt. "What's the plan?" she asked.

"Can you see any teams?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto's current Byakugan range was about 2 kilometers on each side. "I can see three teams on each side of us. That Sand team with Gaara is the third team to the North. None of the other five teams are noteworthy. The second team to the South is an Ame team with poor chakra levels and an Earth Scroll. I could probably take them with just clones."

"I think that team is just outside my range, I think," said Hinata.

"Okay, let's head for them," said Sasuke. "I'd like to challenge myself, but it's probably better to get this stage over with. Too many things can go wrong in this kind of place."

"The Third Exam is always a one-on-one fighting tournament," said Hinata.

"Okay, that will satisfy my need for testing myself," he said

"I'll make a clone to lead us," said Naruto

They skirted the team closest to them, which had a Heaven Scroll and approached their victims.

"These guys are barely aware of what's going on," said Naruto as they stopped 200 meters from them.

"I agree," said Hinata.

Sasuke grunted. "Send in your clones." It had taken weeks for Kakashi to beat the pride out of Sasuke and Naruto so that they put the mission before personal glory. They had not really internalized it until Nami.

Naruto formed six Shadow Clones. The real genin followed them in as backup. They were not needed. Naruto's clones launched their bolas at the Ame genin and all three were wrapped up at the shins and chest.

"Pathetic," Sasuke sneered.

Naruto picked up the scroll from the lead Ame genin.

"I'll leave clones here so these guys don't try and follow us," Naruto said.

The Konoha genin took off at a jog. They ran side by side. "I'll send out more clones to see if I can get us back ups and to thin the competition while we head to the tower."

Hinata and Sasuke agreed. Naruto formed 24 clones which took off in groups of six. The three of them fell back into their standard formation.

After an hour of jogging, Naruto saw a huge chakra signature speeding toward them.

"High jounin chakra. Coming right for us," she yelled.

She saw a wave of chakra coming toward them, centered on her. Just as it was about to hit, she felt a contingency clone Replace her. She saw the contingency clone swept away by what looked like a Great Breakthrough. She quickly made ten Shadow Clones which took off into the brush.

She joined Hinata and Sasuke in one of their standard formations: A shallow triangle with Hinata in front.

A clapping sound could be heard. The creepy Kusa shinobi that had been hiding his chakra levels stepped forward. "Very good," he said. "I must say that you surpass your reputation as the 'Dead Last,' Naruto-chan."

"Who are you to call me 'chan,' Kusa nin?" she demanded.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku," he laughed. "You'll find out. . . if you survive!" He released a wave of killing intent that staggered the genin.

The Kusa nin threw a handful of shuriken at them, the genin dodged out of the way. Kakashi had made sure they knew how to handle killing intent after Nami, although this was more extreme than anything Kakashi had exposed them to.

"Run or fight?" asked Sasuke sourly. Naruto knew that Sasuke _really_ hated to run from a fight.

"He's too fast for us to outrun him," said Naruto, "and he has as much chakra as the Hokage. We're probably toast either way, but I'd prefer to go down fighting if I'm going down."

"Agreed," said Sasuke.

"Okay," said Hinata as she moved forward.

Their antagonist continued to throw shuriken at them, but Hinata deflected them with her chakra-coated palms.

"You think you can take me, Hyuuga-chan?" said the Kusa nin. "They say you're more mouse than shinobi."

Hinata ignored him as she got close enough to attack him with her Gentle Fist taijutsu. In recent months she had added moves to expand her personal style past the standard Hyuuga Gentle Fist that enabled her to take advantage of her body type. The added repertoire, which included chakra-laced kicks, and her increased speed enabled her to stay ahead of Sasuke and Naruto in taijutsu. Hinata's Byakugan and her skill in reading moves countered the Sharingan of her teammates—somewhat.

Hinata unleashed a fury of palms and kicks at the Kusa nin, but he dodged them. Hinata was very fast, but this guy was faster!

The antagonist leaped back and thrust a palm toward Hinata. Snakes shot toward her. She whistled the signal to _not_ Replace her as she began to move wildly with thein blades of chakra emitting from her hands and the Eight Trigrams Seal manifested at her feet. The blades remained in place for several seconds after her hands moved, creating a network of chakra in front of her. The snakes crashed into the barrier and erupted into smoke.

"Very good, Hyuuga-chan," he said. "The reports about you are false. You invented that technique yourself, didn't you?"

Hinata simply glared at him as she gathered her second wind.

Sasuke took the opportunity to unleash a Fireball at the enemy shinobi, but he used a simple chakra-powered leap to clear it.

Three of Naruto's clones launched bolas at him while another six launched kunai at him. The Kusa shinobi deflected them, but when he attempted to deflect the bolas, the remaining weights of the three-weight weapon wrapped around his arm and the weight he deflected came back and hit him in the chest. This did not hinder him very much, as he simply leaped over the others. A quick slash from a kunai got rid of the small hindrance on his arm.

"That is an annoying weapon," he said.

Naruto smirked.

"You're Orochimaru, aren't you?" said Sasuke, his two-tomoe Sharingan visible. "No one else, other than Anko-san, uses snakes."

"Very good, Sasuke-kun," he said. "I see the reports of your genius are correct."

Naruto considered swamping the forest with clones as a strategy while they ran, but was not very confident that it would work, since he had homed in on them and not the clones she had out looking for easy scrolls.

Hinata closed in on him again with Sasuke also engaging him in taijutsu. Naruto sent in clones to help or to Replace them in case of trouble. A few times it looked like Hinata or Sasuke got him, but it turned out to be a clone.

Naruto activated her Sharingan, in order to provide better support. With her Sharingan she could safely target Orochimaru with kunai and avoid her teammates.

"What's this?" said Orochimaru. "Naruto-chan has the Sharingan and the Byakugan, both?"

Naruto grimaced. She would have rather he not know, but they needed all the help they could get.

"Ku, ku, ku," he laughed. "How marvelous! You would be perfect, except you already have a passenger, don't you? You three are quite the team! I think I will share my gift with all of you rather than just Sasuke-kun."

He struck both Sasuke and Hinata and sent them flying into trees faster than the contingency clones could respond. Naruto felt her anger and worry building up inside her. _Kyuubi, I need help!_ she sent to the Bijuu.

The Kyuubi's chakra welled up inside her. She made it her own and pushed it out from her. Her hair lengthened and gathered into ten tail-like strands.

"What's this power?" asked Orochimaru. "It's not the Kyuubi. Ku, ku, ku. I can't wait until you're mine."

She sent her hair after him, but he deflected or dodged it. She tried to get him with a pincer move, but he avoided it. Her frustration and anger increased as he avoided her most potent technique. Her Sharingan showed what he was doing, but she wasn't fast enough to benefit from it. Suddenly, his moves became even clearer, as her ability to predict his moves increased, but she still was not fast enough. If she had to guess, she had just obtained her third tomoe. She tried making clones, but none of them had access to the Kyuubi, and so they were easily disposed of by the rogue shinobi.

"This has been fun, Naruto-chan," he said. "But your display of power will bring others coming soon, so I'll have to cut this short. You and your friends should seek me out when you are ready to become even more powerful."

His head shot forward as his neck lengthened. Naruto could see it coming with her Sharingan, but could not move fast enough to block or avoid it. She felt a sharp jab in her neck and then blackness overtook her.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Bwahahahaha!


	17. Chapter 17: Dealing with an Infestation

Naruto regained consciousness in her mindscape. As before, she was on a barren lunar wasteland with the large gate before her and the Earth in the sky. This time there was also a large, slitted snake eye in the sky. Three tomoe vaguely reminiscent of the Sharingan rotated around the outside the eye. Every once in a while the eye would blink and a snake would slither out of it, only to be vaporized by the Kyuubi's chakra when it touched the surface of the moon.

"Do something about this snake, _Stepmother_ ," the Kyuubi sneered from within its cage. "I refuse to share my _living accommodations_ with this vermin."

Naruto was beginning to hate the way the Kyuubi had adopted her fumbling explanation to her teammates into a derogatory title, but she agreed with its sentiment. She thought about the best way to do it and settled on trying to use her hair.

She absorbed some of the Kyuubi's chakra and then pushed it outside of herself. Once again her hair grew. She sent it toward the eye and latched onto it. She felt chakra from the eye try to burrow into her. She repulsed it and tried to absorb the eye like she had Zetsu. The snake eye's chakra was not very similar to her own. She found that she could not instantly absorb it like she did Zetsu's or the Kyuubi's. She kept trying, thinking that this was the best way to deal with the "invasion." Finally, she got a handle on the difference between the eye's chakra and her own and began to absorb it. The chakra felt dark and disgusting, but in a different way that Zetsu's had. However, the fact that it was so different than hers made the purification easier, even if the absorption was slower. She slowly absorbed the eye's chakra.

As she absorbed the chakra, the resistance to absorption grew until it virtually stopped. With a harder pull, she shattered the resistance and the eye itself. She thought she heard a scream as _something_ nasty dissipated. After that, the absorption sped up and the tomoe that had surrounded the eye somehow unraveled into more symbols. As she absorbed the chakra, the characters and symbols dissolved until there was nothing left.

The Kyuubi snorted. "Took you long enough, _Stepmother._ "

Naruto ignored the Bijuu and focused on waking up.

* * *

In the waking world, Naruto found herself lying in a cave. Hinata and Sasuke were being tended by several of Naruto's Shadow Clones.

"Boss!" a couple of them called. "We're glad you're awake."

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"About two hours."

"Are there more of you?" she asked. She could see six of them in the cave.

"Yeah, standing guard outside," one of the clones said. "The ones you sent out for more scrolls all came back. They only managed to get one more Earth Scroll before the attack."

"What happened after I went unconscious?"

"Orochimaru bit Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun too. He knew we were there and told us to protect you as best we could and then departed. He told us he'd be sending more challenges our way, so we recalled the rest of us and found a defensible spot."

"How are Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun?" she asked.

"Not good. Especially not Hinata-chan," said the spokes-clone. "She's got a bad fever and is sweating like crazy. I don't think she'll survive if we don't get her help or if you can't do whatever it was you did to yourself to come out of it to her."

"One of you dispel," she commanded. The spokes-clone did so and Naruto examined her memories. The clone had summarized the events well.

Hinata was moaning weakly. The seal had expanded all over the visible parts of her body and was slithering all over her like a living snake. She placed her hand over where the wound on her neck was, since she assumed the seal was anchored there.

She sent her chakra senses into her friend. She could immediately feel the difference between the two chakras. Hinata's was clean and pure—gentle with just a hint of steel under the softness. It was reminiscent of her own to a small degree, although not to the same degree as the Kyuubi's or Zetsu's. She assumed it must be because Hinata was descended from Kaguya distantly. The other chakra, Orochimaru's, was the same that she had encountered in her mindscape. She tried to latch on to the foreign chakra, but it was hard due to the fact that she liked Hinata's more. She finally caught ahold of the dark chakra, and started to absorb and purify it. It was more difficult than when she had cleansed herself, but she persisted. She felt a hint of relief when the resistance diminished, signifying that whatever was directing the seal was gone. She continued to absorb the dark chakra. When she was all done, she released her contact with Hinata.

Hinata gasped and cried out in pain. Her chakra senses could feel Hinata's chakra leaking out through the place where the seal had been. The seal must have gotten intertwined with her friend's chakra network. In desperation, she sent chakra back into her friend at the location she had removed the dark chakra from. She sent in a fair amount of chakra to try and patch the "wound." If there was one thing, Naruto had to spare, it was chakra. She tried to weave it around the wound in Hinata's chakra network and then compact it. It kept leaking, so she added more. Finally, she purified some of the Kyuubi's chakra and added it too. She cautiously removed her hands and chakra and took a relieved breath. The "patch" held.

She examined Hinata with her Byakugan. There was a concentration of chakra in her neck, almost like a ninth gate made up of Naruto's chakra. Hinata was breathing more regularly. She put the back of her hand to Hinata's forehead. It felt as if her fever might be going down.

"Watch her," she commanded her clones as she moved over to Sasuke.

Sasuke even now, was doing better than Hinata had been when she started removing the Snake's chakra from her, but he was still doing poorly.

She sent her chakra senses into Sasuke. Sasuke's native chakra was also somewhat like hers, but it was darker—not nearly as dark as the foreign chakra, however. Sasuke's chakra was hard and sharp on the surface, but fiery underneath. The foreign chakra was more entrenched, but she managed to begin drawing it out. When she finally removed all of Orochimaru's chakra, she slowly started to withdraw her own. Again she felt Sasuke's chakra start to hemorrhage from the "wound" in his chakra network. She patched it in much the same way that she had Hinata's. She slowly withdrew her chakra again and was relieved when the "patch" held again. Her Byakugan showed that Sasuke again had something like an extra chakra gate made up of Naruto's chakra.

She leaned back, relieved and a little exhausted.

"Boss, take a look at this!" said one of her clones. Her clone pointed at Hinata's neck. "When we first examined her, she had three black tomoes here before they started swirling and expanding. Now it looks like a pale full moon."

Naruto examined Hinata's neck. The clone was right. A pale gray circle with slightly darker markings reminiscent of a rabbit or a face was barely visible against Hinata's pale skin.

She examined Sasuke's neck and found the same.

She could barely think, so she said, "I need a nap. Wake me up if either of them wake up or if there's trouble."

With that she lay back down and went to sleep.

* * *

Naruto awoke at twilight. She pulled some ration bars out of a storage seal she had had Kakashi put in her vest. Based on the time that the sun set this time of year, she guessed it had been six hours since Orochimaru had attacked. After eating the ration bars, she got up and did some stretches.

"Anything happen?" she asked her clones.

"No," one of them replied. "It's been quiet. Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun are doing much better. I think they'll wake up soon."

"I'm awake," said Sasuke. "What happened? How'd we get away from Orochimaru?"

"He let us go," said Naruto, "after putting his freaky mind control seal on us."

"What?" he shouted.

"It's alright," said Naruto. "The Kyuubi protected me until I was able to absorb the chakra from the seal. I woke up and then absorbed the chakra in your seal and Hinata-chan's. You don't have any of the Snake's chakra left in you. My clones protected us until then."

"You absorbed it?" he said raising an eyebrow.

"You remember what I told you about what happened with that Zetsu creature? It was like that, but harder, since Orochimaru's chakra isn't anything like mine."

"Do you think there will be any side effects?" he asked.

"I don't know. After I absorbed the Snake's chakra, you and Hinata-chan started leaking your own chakra through the 'wound.' I had to make a 'patch' with my own chakra. With my Byakugan I can see a 'lump' of my chakra in you, almost like an extra chakra gate. I don't know if that will do anything to you. The only other thing is that where the Snake had tried to mark you guys, there's a Moon Mark instead."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, come look at Hinata-chan's."

Naruto gently moved the cloth band that held Hinata's Leaf Badge so that Sasuke could see her neck.

"I have one of those too?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Do you have one?" he asked.

"I don't know. I didn't think to have a clone look."

Naruto bared her neck. First one side and then the other.

"I don't see one," he said. "Why don't you have one?"

"Maybe it's because the Kyuubi protected me and so the seal never got a foothold in my chakra network," she replied.

Sasuke grunted. "Should we wake up Hinata-chan?" he asked.

Naruto shook her head. "Let her sleep. She had a worse reaction to the seal than you did. I think she almost died. I've been thinking about whether we should make for the tower or not. With our Doujutsus we could probably make it in the dark, but I think it would be better to try in the morning to give Hinata-chan more time to recover."

Sasuke grunted and then pulled out some ration bars.

Naruto took the first and last watch that night with Sasuke taking the middle watch.

* * *

In the morning, Hinata woke up. She was a little worse for wear, but claimed she could run and fight. Naruto explained what had happened to her and made Sasuke show Hinata his Moon Mark. Hinata thanked Naruto profusely for freeing her from Orochimaru's cursed seal.

They quickly ate more ration bars and had some water. Naruto formed up contingency clones and they made a run for the tower.

Thanks to Naruto's Byakugan, they avoided other teams. After they had been traveling for two hours, Naruto called a halt.

"I can see the girl we thought might be my cousin and she's alone. I want to talk to her."

"Are you sure?" asked Sasuke. "She's from Kusa, just like Orochimaru was posing to be from. It could be a trap."

Naruto nodded. "Wouldn't you take a risk for family? Besides, between Hinata-chan and me, we can see most traps ahead of time."

"I'm game if you approach her with a Shadow Clone," said Sasuke.

"Me too," agreed Hinata.

"Alright," said Naruto. "She's this way."

Naruto led the way. As they neared the presumptive Uzumaki, Naruto saw that she had stumbled onto a giant bear. The girl began to run as the bear chased her.

"She's in trouble from a bear!" Naruto said as she started to run.

"Naruto, you idiot!" yelled Sasuke.

Naruto formed six Shadow Clones as she ran. She ran into a clearing in time to see the redheaded girl trip. Naruto let loose a volley of kunai. Her clones did as well.

The bear roared at her and turned away from its prey. Sasuke came up beside her and nailed the bear in both eyes with kunai, killing it. Hinata approached the two. Naruto's contingency clones stayed in the trees to perform a quick Replacement, if needed.

"Thank you for saving me, but I don't have my teams scroll," said the girl.

"Actually, I was hoping to talk to you," said Naruto. "I noticed your red hair and can see that you have a large, dense chakra reserve. Are you an Uzumaki?"

The girl looked at her suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

Sasuke hit the back of Naruto's head. "Idiot, introduce yourself."

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I was wondering if you were a cousin."

The redhead looked doubtful. "Really? Was your mother a Hyuuga?"

"Oh, my eyes," said Naruto. "No, my mother was an Uzumaki, although my father wasn't. My eyes and coloring and these weird horns are from a run-in with missing nin a few months ago."

She looked even more doubtful. "They transplanted them?"

"No, there was a weird reaction to some foreign chakra they introduced me to which caused me to manifest some long-dormant features. The Uzumaki clan is distantly related to the Hyuuga clan—Senju and Uchiha, too."

"So you were a redhead before?"

Naruto shook her head. "Blonde, actually. They say I took after my father for coloring, although they say I looked like my mother otherwise."

"Okay," she said. "I'll believe you, provisionally. I can sense you have a monstrous amount of chakra even though you're restraining it, which means you might be an Uzumaki."

Naruto smiled brightly, "You can do that too? I'm not very good at it, since it's easier to just use my Byakugan."

The girl returned her smile. "My name is Uzumaki Karin. Pleased to meet you."

Naruto said, "This guy is Uchiha Sasuke and my other teammate is Hyuuga Hinata. What happened to your team?"

Karin frowned. "The forest happened to them. We wandered into a giant tigers' den while trying to find a place to camp. They didn't listen to my warning and got caught. I ran and managed to shake the tigers. I spent the night in a tree and then ended up getting chased by that bear."

"Oh, my condolences," said Naruto.

Karin shrugged. "We weren't close. They put us together just for the exams."

There was an awkward lull, so finally Naruto blurted out, "How do you like Kusa?"

Karin grimaced. "I hate it. They worked my mother to death healing their wounded after taking us in. I'm not sure I can expect anything different."

"Oh," said Naruto. "What are your plans then? Maybe I can talk to the Hokage about you staying here."

"Shiore-san suggested a town elsewhere in Kusa no Kuni I might go to if I didn't want to go back to Kusagakure no Sato."

Naruto asked, "Who's Shiore-san?"

"Did you see the feminine guy with the freaky tongue that talked to the crazy proctor lady at the beginning of this exam?"

Naruto widened her eyes. "Oh, that guy. I wouldn't listen to anything that guy said. He was Orochimaru the missing nin in disguise. Really bad news."

Karin frowned. "Figures, with my luck. Do you really know the Hokage?"

Naruto smiled. "Yep. He even lets me call him Jiichan. Maybe he can figure out how we're related."

"Really?"

Sasuke snorted. "No one has ever bothered to teach this idiot manners until recently. For some reason Hokage-sama tolerates it."

"Be nice, Sasuke-kun," murmured Hinata.

"Okay," said Karin, "I'll talk to the Hokage with you."

"Great!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Let's hurry and finish this thing," said Sasuke.

"Do you want to come with us, Karin-chan?" asked Naruto. "If your teammates are already dead, there's no point in you staying."

"Please!" the redhead replied.

The four genin resumed their trek to the tower. Within another hour they arrived.

Naruto ignored Hinata and Sasuke as they read the clue on the wall. She pulled out the three scrolls that they had collected.

"I think we should unroll one of each kind," said Hinata.

Naruto handed an Earth Scroll to Sasuke and put the extra one back in her vest.

"Ready?" she asked as she held the Heaven Scroll.

Sasuke nodded.

They both unrolled the scrolls and then dropped them as characters began to move on the scrolls and smoke emerged.

A familiar figure could be seen in the smoke as it cleared.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called. She ran to her favorite Academy teacher.

"Hi, Naruto-chan," he said. "I'm glad you made it through. Who's your friend?"

"This is Uzumaki Karin. Her team fell victim to the wildlife, so she came with us," Naruto said.

"Uzumaki, huh?" Iruka said. "A relative?"

"Maybe," said Naruto. "We'll ask the Hokage about it—but that's for later. Listen, Iruka, we really need to talk to the Hokage about something else that happened in the forest."

Iruka looked at Sasuke and Hinata. They both had serious faces.

"It's true," said Hinata. "Something happened that Hokage-sama needs to know about."


	18. Chapter 18: A Quiet Time

Iruka guided them to rooms, where they could wash up and change. Karin got her own room, assuming her teammates did not show up later. Team Seven got a room to share. Two hours later Kakashi came to see them.

"What do you need to see Hokage-sama about?" he asked.

"We ran into Orochimaru in the forest," said Naruto, "and he tried to mark us."

"What!?" their sensei exclaimed. "Let me see."

"I said he tried to mark us, Sensei," said Naruto. "I escaped completely, mostly due to the Kyuubi, I think. I was able to remove the Snake's marks from Hinata-chan and Sasuke-kun, but had to patch a wound in their chakra networks with my chakra. It left a moon mark where Orochimaru's mark was trying to stabilize."

"Let me see," Kakashi repeated.

Kakashi examined Hinata and Sasuke. He motioned for Naruto to bare her neck as well. Naruto rolled her eyes, but did as he asked.

"What did the mark look like before you removed it?" asked Kakashi. "For that matter how did you remove it?"

"It looked like three tomoe in a circle," Naruto said, remembering what her clones had seen. "I removed it by absorbing the chakra out of it."

"You can do that?" asked Kakashi, surprised.

"It took me some time to figure out how to do it, but yes. I don't think I could do it in a fight, at least not at this point—maybe a Bijuu's chakra."

"You think you could absorb a Bijuu's chakra?" he asked, startled.

"I can instantly absorb any chakra I get from the Kyuubi, since it was split from what was essentially my predecessor. It could be because I'm used to it since it's been sealed in me since birth, but judging by what happened with that Zetsu creature, I think I could do it with any of them."

"Zetsu?" Kakashi said. "That creature you met after you'd been kidnapped?"

"Yes. It said it was Kaguya's offspring. The Kyuubi didn't recognize it, but I think it might have been made from Kaguya's chakra as a kind of servant or surrogate."

"Hmm," said Kakashi. "It's too bad we can't test this safely."

"You do know there are one or two other jinchuuriki in the exams, right?"

"You can't exactly go up to someone and ask if you can test out your immunity to their secret weapon, Dead Last," said Sasuke.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly.

"Very well," said Kakashi. "I'll pass along what you've told me. Hokage-sama will probably want to talk to you. I'd also expect a full medical examination to make sure that there aren't any hidden surprises."

Naruto groaned.

* * *

Several hours later, after a medical exam, Naruto and her teammates were brought into a room where the Hokage was waiting.

Naruto and her teammates explained about their encounter with Orochimaru. Naruto went on to explain how she had dealt with the cursed seals.

"Do you think you could remove one of Orochimaru's cursed seals that has been in place for a long time?" asked the Hokage.

"I think so," Naruto said. "The question is whether I could patch the chakra system after removing the seal. If the seal has integrated into the person's chakra system too much, it might leave a 'wound' too big for me to patch."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you leaving a large amount of your chakra in someone, Naruto-kun," said the Hokage.

"I had to save Hinata-chan!" said Naruto. "She was really bad off—dying as far as I could tell. Plus, it's better than having Orochimaru's mark, isn't it? The chakra I left in them isn't 'programmed' to do anything."

"I'm not saying you did the wrong thing, Naruto-kun," said the Hokage. "But perhaps it would not be necessary with a skilled medic nin on hand.

"We do have a shinobi who has Orochimaru's cursed seal," the Hokage continued after a moment's thought. "She's never used it consciously, so perhaps you could remove it, if we had the proper backup on hand to heal any breach in her chakra system."

"I'd be happy to help, Jiichan," she said.

"You must have incredible chakra control to have manufactured a patch," said the Hokage. "I thought your chakra control was just getting decent."

"Well, as you know, it started off pretty bad," said Naruto. "But I've been getting lots better—especially since the Kyuubi stopped fighting me and I learned how to use Shadow Clones to practice chakra control. I think I can control my chakra as effectively as Hinata-chan now. Maybe a little better."

"You have Hyuuga-level chakra control with your size chakra reserves?" asked the Hokage incredulously. "At your age?"

"I've been practicing lots, Jiichan," she said. "Plus, my chakra just seems disposed to do what I want, since my kidnapping."

"I'm happy that you've improved so much, Naruto-kun."

"Me too, Jiichan," she said. "It feels good not to be the Dead Last anymore."

Sasuke snorted. "Just because you're skilled now, doesn't mean you're not still an idiot at times, _Dead Last_."

Naruto stuck out her tongue at him. "At least I know how to smile, _Emo-chan_."

Hinata rolled her eyes at them.

"Jiichan," Naruto said. "We met another Uzumaki. She's from Kusa, although I don't think she was born there. She doesn't want to go back. Can she stay here?"

The Hokage sighed. "I'm not trying to be mean, Naruto-chan, but if Kusa wants her back, we can't keep her without causing a major incident and likely losing our alliance."

"Her teammates are dead. Couldn't she just disappear?"

The Hokage sighed again. "I'll talk about it with you and her sometime after this stage of the exams is over, okay? I can't promise anything, but we'll see."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Jiichan."

* * *

The next couple of days were relaxing, in a way. There weren't facilities to train, so there wasn't much to do other than read, talk, and rest. Kiba's team arrived shortly after they did, which meant that Sasuke hid in their rooms all day to avoid Sakura. This only intensified after Ino's team arrived the following day. Hinata's cousin's team arrived just before Team 10. Rather than deal with his glares, Hinata decide to keep Sasuke company. Karin also hid in her room, so that she would not be seen if anyone from Kusa showed up. Naruto took to wandering the tower when boredom drove her out of their room.

Naruto was surprised to see the green-haired Taki shinobi that she thought might be another jinchuuriki sitting by herself on a balcony overlooking the forest. She decided to approach her because she was curious about what being a Bijuu container was like in a different village.

"Hey," Naruto said. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto. Do you mind if I sit with you?"

The Taki nin just shrugged. "I can't stop you."

 _This little one contains the Nanabi no Kabutomushi,_ _Stepmother_ , said the Kyuubi.

"Are you excited for the next stage?" Naruto asked.

The Taki nin snorted. "I won't be advancing. My idiot teammates sent me ahead to get a scroll and one of them managed to get himself killed while I was gone. I'm going to get blamed for that, but I would have gotten in trouble too if I hadn't listened to them. Par for the course." She snorted again.

Naruto sighed. "I was hoping we were treated better elsewhere. It sounds like your life has been like mine was up until recently."

"What do you mean?" asked the other girl suspiciously.

Naruto smiled and bowed. "Number Seven, I'm Number Nine."

"Oh," she replied. "Chomei said there was something odd about you. It's weird that it didn't know that you were a jinchuuriki. It spotted the Ichibi container right away."

"Chomei?" Naruto asked.

"The Nanabi's name," the other replied. "Although it insists that I call it 'Lucky Number Seven.'"

"I'm told I have very potent chakra and a very good seal," Naruto explained. "That must be why Chomei didn't sense the Kyuubi."

"Chomei says you feel like its mother-grandmother, if you can believe it," said the Taki nin.

"The Kyuubi said something similar," Naruto smiled, "but I'm only twelve. It's not possible."

"Do you know what they mean?" she asked.

Naruto sighed. "The Kyuubi thinks that I'm the transmigration of someone called Outsutsuki Kaguya. Chomei can tell you about her. I'd rather not talk about her as I'm not going to end up like she did."

"Chomei says you look like her too."

"Are you going to be alright back in Taki?" asked Naruto to change the subject.

She sighed. "I'll manage. Our village leader, Shibuki, looks on me like a little sister. He's a bit of a coward, but he manages to shield me from most of the real trouble. It's just that the glares and mutterings get to me."

"I know what you mean," said Naruto. "The Hokage treats me like a granddaughter, but few others treated me well until my team did."

The other girl snorted. "At least your team is there for you. Mine treats me like an ill-favored tool."

Naruto heard her stomach growl and looked at the sun's position. "It's lunch time. Do you want to go with me?"

"I'd like that, Naruto" the other girl said. "My name's Fuu."

"Nice to meet you, Fuu."

As they walked toward the cafeteria, Naruto asked the Kyuubi, _I assume you have a name, Kyuubi. Why haven't you told it to me?_

 _My name is personal, Stepmother_ , the Kyuubi said softly. _I may tell you later, but not now._


	19. Chapter 19: Preliminaries

When the 120 hours were expired, the proctors assembled all of the genin who had passed the second stage to a large room with two balconies where the Hokage was waiting on a slightly raised stage in front of two massive arms and hands making a ram seal. Naruto was sad that Karin and Fuu were disqualified due to teammate deaths.

Anko congratulated them on surviving and turned the time over to the Hokage. The Hokage explained the politics of the Chuunin Exams and the reason why they were held—it being a way for the individual villages to gain prestige as a proxy for war. He explained that due to the fact that some of the Daimyos would be in attendance for the last event, they needed to have a preliminary round to cut the field down to something more manageable.

A new proctor, Gekkou Hayate, introduced himself and explained the rules for the preliminary round while coughing periodically. An electronic display would randomly select who would fight. The fights would end with submission, knockout, death, or at the word of the proctor. He offered anyone who wanted to, a chance to withdraw.

The silver-haired Konoha shinobi who had suppressed his chakra, Kabuto, raised his hand. "I need to bow out. I've used to much chakra. I don't have much to begin with."

"Very well," said Hayate. "You may withdraw."

Out of curiosity, Naruto turned on her Byakugan. Kabuto's chakra was the same as before: suppressed and with no evidence of there being less of it.

"Sensei," she whispered. "That's one of the guys who was suppressing his chakra. It's still suppressed and the exact same as before the tests."

"Really?" he said under his breath. "Interesting."

With her Byakugan still active, she saw Kakashi make some hand signs behind his back. An ANBU stationed behind them disappeared into the shadows. Naruto assumed it was to follow or stop Kabuto for questioning. She was curious as to what would happen to him, but knew better than to ask.

"Let's see who our first match is," said Hayate.

The electronic sign flashed for a few seconds and two names popped up.

"First up is Uzumaki Naruto and Tenten, both of Konoha," Hayate read off. "Everyone else please move to the balcony.

Naruto recognized Hinata's cousin's teammate. If she remembered correctly from Hinata's brief during the Bell Test all those months ago, Tenten primarily used thrown weapons, so they were both ranged specialists. It promised to be an interesting and challenging fight.

As they both faced off against each other, the other girl spoke, "I'm glad to see you've gotten a somewhat better outfit. Your old one was a disgrace to every serious kunoichi."

Naruto snorted. "If the only thing about me that people remember about me is my outfit, then it's done its job."

Tenten frowned.

Naruto added. "Plus orange is awesome."

The other girl rolled her eyes.

"Are you both ready?" the proctor asked.

"Yes," they both answered near simultaneously.

"Ready? Fight!"

Both girls jumped back.

Naruto brought out a set of bolas to test the waters.

Tenten was slightly quicker at pulling out a brace of shuriken, but paused before throwing them. "Are those bolas?"

"Yes, they are," she replied.

"Wow, I've never seen any in action. Can you show them to me after?"

Naruto smirked. "You can just stand still and I'll demonstrate them."

Tenten snorted. "No thanks."

Naruto twirled the bolas quickly and let them fly.

Tenten aimed for a fraction of a second and threw one of her shuriken. It deflected one of the weights, but the momentum of the bolas spinning kept them largely on target. Tenten dodged to the side.

"Those things are annoying," she said.

"I know," Naruto said, smirking. "Want to see something else annoying?"

She made her favorite hand sign. She could do it without now, but it was easier to do it with it and she figured it was a good trick to hold in reserve. She intentionally molded the chakra roughly to produce a lot of chakra smoke. She made 45 clones and Disguised 29 of them and herself as kunai and one as a mouse with its Byakugan active. Disguising as a weapon took much more chakra than even doing an animal the same size, but she had chakra to spare. The main disadvantage was not being able to sense anything, but Shadow Clones could be used to get around that. The remaining 15 clones picked the Disguised kunai up before the smoke dissipated. They quickly spread out around the edge of the arena. The mouse hid in a hole in the wall.

Tenten frowned and started quickly throwing kunai. Most of her throws connected to Naruto's annoyance, but her clones simply made more of themselves to compensate. She did not mind the dropped kunai clones, as the object was to spread them around. Her clones started throwing the kunai, intentionally missing so they would not get deflected.

A popped clone's memory reported Tenten saying, "I was hoping to save this for later, but there's too many of you to handle a few at a time."

A few moments later all of the human-form clones were destroyed and reported the use of a technique that Tenten called "Twin Rising Dragons" in which she floated into the air with a pair of scrolls and launched dozens of bladed weapons near simultaneously.

Almost three minutes later the mouse clone dispersed with the instructions for a specific clone to revert to normal. Tenten had finally moved right in front of one in her search for Naruto, since all the obvious clones were gone. About 10 seconds later, Naruto reverted. In hindsight she realized she should have had multiple mice hidden to account for contingencies.

She was just in time to hear Hayate say, "Winner: Uzumaki Naruto."

Tenten was frowning as a clone held a kunai to her throat. "How'd you do that?"

Naruto arched an eyebrow. "You really expect me to say in front of foreign shinobi?"

Tenten looked abashed. "Ah, good point."

"I will show you my bolas, when we both have time, if you'd like," Naruto offered.

"Thanks, I'd like that."

* * *

The second match was Sasuke versus Kinuta Dosu of Oto. Sasuke easily won because he already knew Dosu's gauntlet gimmick from before the first exam. He kept at range and then used a wire trick to wrap the Oto shinobi up when he mistakenly ignored some kunai that went wide.

The third match was Hinata versus her cousin. The whole arena was muttering about Team 7 all going first. The Hokage was glaring at Anko who was standing next to the display. Anko simply shrugged.

When the two Hyuuga stood opposite each other, Neji said, "You should forfeit, Hinata-sama. A failure like you could never win against someone like me."

Hinata cocked her head to the side and said, "How do you know I'm a failure? We've barely talked to each other for months. You know nothing of my shinobi career."

Neji snorted. "Someone who cannot even defeat their five-years-younger sister in a spar can hardly be considered otherwise."

Hinata laughed softly, "You should not mistake a conscious decision to protect my sister for a lack of skill, Neji-niisan."

Neji looked nonplussed at Hinata's calm demeanor and ready answers. Neji then snorted. "We both know I am more skilled than you. You have no chance of winning."

"Perhaps," said Hinata, "but we won't know until the match is over."

"There is no perhaps. It is Fated."

"Why must it be this way, Neji-niisan? Family should not act like this."

"A few minutes' difference in the births of our fathers and mine would still be alive," Neji replied coldly as he smoothed the headband that displayed the Leaf Badge on his forehead.

Hinata started to say, "I wish. . ." but stopped and looked sadly at him before turning and looking at Hayate. Neji continued to glare at her coldly.

"Are you both ready?" asked Hayate.

"Yes," said Hinata.

Neji continued to glare at her before saying, "Yes."

"Ready? Fight!"

Naruto turned on her Byakugan to better watch the fight, but left off her Sharingan out of respect for Hinata and her clan's wishes. With the Sharingan to copy the Gentle Fist taijutsu moves, her massively improved chakra control to create the chakra strikes, and her own Byakugan to target tenketsu, she figured she could recreate the Hyuuga fighting style with some practice if she wanted to, but consciously chose not to. She also wanted to leave her Sharingan as a trump, but with Orochimaru knowing about it, she did not know if there was a point to that.

The match was very close. Neji had an advantage in gross speed and strength, which he used to body check Hinata at one point. Hinata had an advantage in flexibility and a very slight one in hand quickness. She also had the advantage of some unorthodox moves. However, Neji was a quick study, and she only surprised him a few times.

At first it looked like Hinata would win, but after ten minutes, Neji's final advantage came to the fore—he had more endurance. The balance tipped and Neji kept closing Hinata's tenketsu, while Hinata's progress against him halted.

"You see, Hinata-sama?" Neji chuckled. "You cannot win. You are still a failure. Forfeit and go home."

Naruto seethed inside. Hinata had done very well against the older boy—hardly a failure.

"I will not give up!" Hinata shouted. She surged her chakra. Naruto could see specks of brighter chakra leak from the patch she had made in Hinata's neck. Hinata's eyes glowed blue and a dark blue pupil manifested in the center. She stretched forth her hand and said, "Divine Will!"

Neji flew backwards and slammed into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

Hayate coughed and then said, "Winner: Hyuuga Hinata."

Hinata slumped and released her chakra, causing her eyes to revert all the way back to normal.

Naruto rushed and wrapped her in a hug. "That was awesome, Hinata!" she shouted. In a much quieter voice she asked, "Do you know what you did?"

Hinata quietly replied, "No."

Naruto quietly said, "We'll figure it out later. I have a clue."

* * *

In the fourth match, Tsuchi Kin of Oto beat Kiba by using a sound-based genjutsu that both the Inuzuka and his partner were especially susceptible to because of their enhanced hearing. The Oto kunoichi used bells attached to senbon to trigger it.

The fifth match was between Ino and Sakura. As Naruto had come to expect both girls wasted the pre-match trash-talking time proclaiming how they would each win the match for "My Sasuke-kun." In a surprise upset, Sakura beat Ino using a layered genjutsu. Ino sensed and disrupted the first, but due to her cockiness, fell victim to the second.

"My father placed me in Kurenai-sensei's care during my Academy years," said Hinata. "She's the premiere genjutsu expert in the village. It appears that she has helped Sakura significantly."

Sakura turned to Sasuke, hopefully, but Sasuke simply looked away from her. The pink-haired girl looked disappointed, but brightened as she got back to her team. She received a mix of congratulations and teasing/scolding from her team and sensei.

"It looks like Kurenai-sensei is trying to break her of her fangirlishness," Naruto commented.

Sasuke snorted. "Good luck to her with that."

The sixth match was a Wind duel between Abumi Zaku of Oto and Temari of Suna. Temari simply overpowered the Oto nin using her large fan to create more powerful gusts and blades.

"Hey, Naruto-chan. I bet you could have beaten Tenten using the Wind techniques you know," said Sasuke quietly.

"Probably," said Naruto, "but very few people can guess what I did the way I did it. It's better to be sneakier, especially at this stage."

"I bet you just didn't think of it. Right, Dead Last?" Sasuke ribbed her.

Naruto stuck out her tongue.

Sasuke chuckled.

The seventh match was a slaughter, literally. Gaara of Suna used sand from his gourd to crush Kabuto's teammate Tusrugi Misami when the older Konoha shinobi rushed him. The Suna jinchuuriki muttered about blood for "Mother" as he looked evilly at Naruto.

The eighth match faced Akadou Yoroi, Kabuto's other teammate, against Sakura and Kiba's teammate Aburame Shino. The older shinobi leaped at the Aburame with a glowing hand and began to gloat about how he would drain Shino's chakra. To his surprise, Shino dissolved into bugs which sucked _him_ of _his_ chakra. The real Shino emerged from behind the statue of arms doing a ram sign. Shino silently listened to his Hayate proclaim his victory.

By this time, Neji's final teammate, Rock Lee, was practically bouncing off the walls. Lee looked like a miniature Maito Gai. Naruto wondered if they were related. Lee was beside himself with the desire to test his skills since his teammates had all gone early in the competition. "I hope I go last," he proclaimed.

When the sign showed Akimichi Chouji of Konoha versus Kankurou of Suna, Lee yelled very loudly, "No! It didn't work!"

When Gai loudly started consoling his student, Naruto concentrated on ignoring them.

Chouji quickly used his clan's Multi-size and Human Bullet Techniques in an attempt to smash Kankurou. It turned out that the Kankurou he flattened was really a puppet, which managed to poison Chouji in the process. After that it was only a matter of time before Chouji fell unconscious. The Suna nin was irritated about the destruction of his puppet, but gave the antidote to the med nin upon request.

Before the last match was called, Lee leaped down and began hopping around and shadow boxing with himself, ranting about how Youthful the match between he and Shikamaru would be. Shikamaru waited until the display showed his name. Then he had to be pushed by an annoyed Ino to get going. He slouched forward until he stood before the still ranting and leaping Lee.

"You know what?" Shikamaru said. "This is such a drag. Fighting the Junior Green Beast would be even more troublesome than listening to my mother complain about forfeiting. I don't want a promotion, anyway. I quit."

"What? Nooooooo!" yelled Lee. "I want to bask in the Springtime of Youth! Why can't I burn with the Flames of Youth! Why did this happen to me, Gai-Sensei? Why?"

Gai ran to his student and embraced him. The rest of those in the arena averted their eyes.

The proctors called the winners down to draw numbers out of a hat. The numbers were sloppily inked. Naruto wondered if it was because they doubted the "randomness" of the electronic display. The numbers corresponded to who would fight who in the first round of the tournament.

Hayate called out, "The fights will be as follows:

"Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha versus Tsuchi Kin of Oto,

"Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha versus Aburame Shino of Konoha,

"Rock Lee of Konoha versus Haruno Sakura of Konoha,

"Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha versus Temari of Suna,

"and finally, Gaara of Suna versus Kankurou of Suna.

"In the second round:

"the winner of the first fight gets a bye as a reward for going first,

"the winner of the second fight faces the winner of the third fight,

"and the winner of the fourth fight faces the winner of the fifth fight,

"In the third round:

"the winner of the second round's first fight will face the examinee that received the bye,

"and the winner of the second round's second fight will receive a bye.

"The final fight will be between the last two remaining examinees."

The first vocal response was Lee saying he could not fight his precious cherry blossom, much to Sakura's dismay as she did not want his attention.

Temari was consoling Kankurou about being matched up against their brother. Said brother just kept staring creepily at Naruto.

Naruto did some figuring in her head and said, "Hey guys, the way it's set up, the final will be me against whichever of you two wins the semifinals."

She must have said it too loudly because Temari walked over and said quietly, "Since you gave me a laugh at Kankurou's expense when he was being an idiot and we first met, I'll give you some free advice, Short Stuff. If you want to live, you'll lose to me, rather than face my brother."

Naruto smiled and said, "Thanks for the advice, but I think I'll take my chances."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As some have guessed, yes, Hinata can activate the Tenseigan due to Naruto's chakra deposit. The Tenseigan can do the same types of things as the Deva Path of the Rinnegan plus it has a buff mode. I explicitly decided to make the Technique Name the same, although I "translated" it differently than the English Anime or Manga do. "Divine Will" is my name for the Shinra Tensei which literally translates to the mouthful "Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God."

I don't think it's too big a spoiler to say that Sasuke will be manifesting the Rinne-sharingan due to his chakra deposit from Naruto.

I subscribe to the preliminary-fight selections are rigged theory. In this story, as he probably did in canon with respect to Sasuke's fight, Orochimaru tampered with all of Team 7's selections. He made it obvious to yank Sarutobi's chain. It's just happenstance that he wanted the Hyuuga battle just like in canon (which was probably rigged in canon to promote variety in the final matches). His goal was to get them a tough fight in their area of expertise without using Gaara. He just misjudged Dosu's effectiveness and didn't know Sasuke knew Dosu's trick.

I decided to let Sakura win because I think she would shine a lot more under Kurenai than canon Kakashi, whereas for the most part, Asuma seems to be only a slightly more motivated teacher than canon Kakashi. I also wanted to add some character to her besides just being a fangirl. Ino will use this loss to motivate herself (although I'm not promising screen time for anyone other than this story's Team 7).

I hope you liked the Shika vs. Lee bit, I came down to choosing the last couple of fights and couldn't resist. Sorry, the fanon unbreakable Sunset Genjutsu will not be making any explicit appearances in this fic.


	20. Chapter 20: New Tricks and New Relations

"A whole month!" Naruto yelled as she and her teammates followed Kakashi back to Konoha proper. The tower was located conveniently at one of the edges of the training ground.

"Weren't you listening, Dead Last?" Sasuke asked.

She smirked. "No, I was watching the soap opera that was Sakura and Lee."

Sasuke shuddered.

"So what's the training schedule going to be, Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I'm giving you two days off and then you'll each be training hard," Kakashi responded. "I can't realistically or fairly train all of you, so I'll be finding at least two of you other trainers."

"You aren't looking to dump us on someone are you, Kakashi-sensei?" she said suspiciously.

"Would I do that, Naruto-chan?" he asked innocently.

"Actually, you've been a pretty decent sensei," Naruto admitted.

"Only decent?" he asked, acting hurt.

"Yeah," Naruto said with a grin. "You never treat us to ramen."

"Or you know, something that tastes good," said Sasuke.

"You take that back, Emo-chan!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto and Sasuke squabbled while they continued walking.

"Where are we going, Sensei?" asked Hinata.

"Hokage Tower," he replied. "We need to discuss what happened in the Forest."

Sasuke and Naruto quieted down.

"Didn't we already do that?" Naruto said.

"We need a few others to get involved," Kakashi said.

* * *

At the tower they found the Hokage waiting with the medic that examined them after the Second Exam, Hinata's father, Anko the Second Exam proctor, and two older shinobi that Naruto recognized as the Hokage's Councilors.

"First of all," said the Hokage, "I'd like Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, and Hinata-kun to explain again the encounter they had in the Forest of Death and what happened afterward."

Sasuke started by explaining the encounter with Orochimaru with input from Hinata and Naruto. A frown flashed across Hiashi's face when receiving the Curse Mark was mentioned. Their own frowns lingered on Anko and the Councilors' faces. Naruto went on to describe what happened in her mindscape and then afterward.

"So Orochimaru's Curse Seal is no longer present?" Hiashi asked.

The medic said, "No, I examined them quite thoroughly in the Forest Tower. There is a mark shaped like a moon and there is some of Naruto-san's chakra present in the other two, but no other foreign chakra."

"Not any of Naruto-san's other chakra?" asked Hiashi carefully.

"Sasuke-kun and Hinata-kun have been briefed on Naruto-kun's prisoner," the Hokage commented.

"That's correct, Hyuuga-sama," the medic said. "Naruto-san's chakra changed slightly after her kidnapping, but it's still quite distinct from her prisoner's. The chakra in Hinata-san and Sasuke-san is purely Naruto-san's." He turned to the Hokage. "I'd like to quickly examine each of them to make sure that there have been no further complications, Hokage-sama."

"Very well," he answered.

The medic spent about a minute examining each of them. "There appears to be no change since I last examined them. The 'patch' Naruto-san made seems to be very stable."

"Can she remove mine?" Anko asked excitedly.

"Please examine Anko-kun's Curse Mark, Naruto-kun," the Hokage directed.

Naruto placed her hand on Anko's neck over the Curse Seal. She probed it with her chakra. Since this was the fourth time she had dealt with Orochimauru's chakra, she identified and probed it easily. The connection to Anko's chakra network was more solid, but not any wider than it was with Sasuke.

"I think I could remove it, but I'm positive her chakra network would need to be healed or patched afterward," she said.

The Hokage looked at the medic. "Could you stop the chakra hemorrhaging that Naruto-kun talked about?"

The medic shook his head. "What she described is not something I could stop or fix. I'm also sure none of the other medic nin currently in Konoha could do it either. I'm certain that Tsunade-sama could do it, but short of her coming back, you'd need Naruto-san to utilize her patch method."

The Hokage thought for a few moments. "I'd like to have you wait until we get Tsunade-kun to return, Anko-kun. I'll send a message to recall her. If within a six months she hasn't returned. I'll allow Naruto-kun to use her patch method. I'm not comfortable with going ahead with that without knowing the long-term effects if there's another method available."

"Alright, said Anko disappointedly. "I've dealt with the Scumbag's Curse for over a decade. I can wait a few more months."

The Hokage dismissed Anko and the medic.

After they had left, he said, "Hinata-kun, you did something unusual in the preliminary match with your cousin. Can you tell us about it?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Hinata said. "I was doing well against Neji-niisan, but physically I began to tire and it was beginning to show in the way the match was progressing. I reached within myself to gather my chakra in order to reinforce my body. When I gathered it my chakra, there was something odd that happened. I could see the forces that govern the physical world. Instinctively I knew how to manipulate them. The technique I used to repel Neji-niisan came from that knowledge. I don't know why it happened, just that it did."

The Hokage said, "Your eyes changed right before you did the technique. They seemed to glow blue."

"Hokage-sama, can you describe the change to her eyes, better?" asked her father.

"I was too far away to say more," said the Hokage.

"They had a dark blue pupil with a lighter blue creeping in around the edges," said Naruto.

"Tensaigan," Hiashi whispered reverently.

"You know of this, Hiashi-san?" the Hokage asked.

"It is said that our ancestor, Outsutsuki Hamura-sama was able to enhance his Byakugan in order to control gravity itself and to enhance his own physical abilities. This evolution of the Byakugan, he called the Tenseigan."

Naruto said, "I was watching Hinata-chan with my own Byakugan when she evolved her eyes. It appeared that brighter specks of chakra were leaving the 'patch' I had made on her chakra system."

"It is known that Uzumaki chakra is denser than most," said Kakashi. "Naruto's mother's chakra was dense enough that she could form a solid object from it."

"Can you do the Tenseigan, Naruto-kun?" asked the Hokage.

"I don't know. When I focus more chakra to my eyes, something else happens," she said.

"It's alright to demonstrate," said the Hokage. "I trust that my Councilors and Hiashi-san will keep this confidential." He looked at them and the three nodded.

Naruto activated her Byakugan and then focused more chakra to her eyes, activating her third eye.

"Sharingan!" the female Councilor said.

"It's fully mature now," said the Hokage.

"I believe it happened while fighting Orochimaru in the Forest of Death," said Naruto.

"I got my third tomoe then too, I think," said Sasuke.

"Can you push more chakra to your eyes?" asked the Hokage.

"Let me try," she said.

She could not seem to force more chakra there; it was kind of like how she could not force it into her hair without pulling from the Kyuubi. This time she tried grabbing chakra from her own core, instead of the Kyuubi, and then forcing it out of her. It worked and she felt her hair start to grow and move. The world changed and she could see the forces that kept things anchored to the ground. She could also see a glow around the people in the room that was different than their chakra.

"I think my eyes changed again," she said.

"Your main eyes are the same," said Kakashi, "but your third eye now has nine tomoe all orbiting along three circles."

"The circles are reminiscent of how Jiraiya-kun described the Rinnegan," said the Hokage, "but the tomoe are still there as is the red color. Jiraiya said the Rinnegan he saw was purplish gray. It's like a combination of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan."

"I feel like I could do the 'Divine Will' Technique that Hinata-chan did," Naruto offered.

"Please, not in my office," said the Hokage with a smile.

"No problem, Jiichan," she smiled back at him. She let the chakra go, and her hair went limp, her third eye closed, world went back to normal. "I need to figure out what to do with my hair when I release the technique," she muttered. "It's a pain to keep cutting it."

"Can you recreate the Tenseigan, Hinata-kun?" asked the Hokage.

"I'm not sure. Let me try," she said.

Hinata activated her Byakaugan. Naruto and Hiashi did as well. Sasuke activated his Sharingan. After a thought, Naruto activated her third eye. She could see Hinata pull more chakra into her eyes. The specks of denser chakra appeared again and the Tenseigan manifested.

"I don't think I can keep it activated very long at present," said Hinata.

"Amazing," murmured Hiashi.

As far as Naruto could tell, the patch that appeared almost as if it were an extra chakra gate was remaining stable. Perhaps it was 'training' or 'imprinting' the chakra that passed through it?

Hinata released her chakra and her eyes reverted to normal. "I don't think I could do that more than three minutes," she said.

"I saw the 'patch' and the brighter specks you were talking about, Naruto-san," said Hiashi. "The patch seems to be the source of the brighter specks, but it wasn't diminishing as she kept the Tenseigan active."

"That's good," said the Hokage. "We wouldn't want this new ability to cause Hinata-kun medical problems." He turned to Sasuke. "We should see if Sasuke-kun's eyes can evolve as well."

"Okay," he said.

Sasuke still had his eyes active. Naruto saw him surge his chakra. Like Hinata, bright specks of chakra left his patch. Sasuke's eyes changed much like Naruto's third eye, except that his only had six tomoe in each instead of Naruto's nine.

"I can see what you mean about attractive and repulsive forces," said Sasuke. "I feel like I could change them. I also see what Hinata-chan said about a time limit. I don't think I could keep this up for more than five minutes, maximum."

"It seems you can access the Rinne-Sharingan, too," said the Hokage, "but your eyes had six tomoe compared to Naruto's nine."

"Sasuke-kun felt like he could keep his Rinne-Sharingan active for five minutes compared to Hinata-chan's three for her Tenseigan," said Kakashi thoughtfully. "I wonder if that's due to his larger chakra reserves."

"How about you, Naruto-kun?" asked the Hokage.

"Maybe half an hour?" she said. "As long as I wasn't doing anything else too strenuous. Much longer if I used the Kyuubi's chakra. I think I could keep my Byakugan and normal Sharingan active indefinitely."

"I'm declaring the cause of Hinata-kun and Sasuke-kun's doujutsu evolution an S-Rank secret," said the Hokage. "I'd like all three of you to use moderation in using them. Keep it as a trump card for now, please. If you have to use it in the Chuunin Exams, you may do so, but I'll tell you now that winning through skill rather than power is looked upon more favorably by the judges. Hiashi-san, you may tell your clan elders that Hinata-kun has the Tenseigan, if you want, but not why."

With that, the Hokage ended the meeting.

As Naruto was leaving, Hiashi stopped her. "I'd like to thank you for saving my daughter's life and removing the traitor's mark, Naruto-san," he said. "If there's a personal favor I can give to you, please let me know."

"Hinata-chan is my best friend as well as my teammate," Naruto said smiling. "I could hardly do less."

"As you say," agreed Hiashi. "The favor is still owed."

Hinata's face was red with embarrassment. It had been a while since she had blushed like that.

"Come back tomorrow at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Naruto-chan," said the Hokage, "and we can discuss your other matter," said the Hokage.

"Sure, Jiichan," called back Naruto.

* * *

The next day, Naruto arrived at the Hokage's office just in time to see an ANBU drop off Karin.

"Good afternoon, Naruto-chan, Karin-san," said the Hokage.

"Good afternoon, Jiichan," said Naruto.

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama," said Karin.

"I've looked over the transcript of the interview you gave, Karin-san," said the Hokage. "I think we can find a place for you here. . ."

At this Naruto interrupted him with a cheer. The Hokage smiled indulgently at her.

"Do you have something you would like to do?" he asked.

"My main skills are my sensor abilities and my healing bite. I can also form chains from my chakra, but I'm not very good at manipulating them."

"Really?" asked Naruto. "My mom could use the chains too. They were her signature technique."

"Really?" said Karin. "Who was she?"

Naruto looked at the Hokage, pleadingly.

The Hokage sighed. "I'm going to trust you, Karin-san. Please don't make me regret it. I don't want you repeating this to anyone. Naruto-chan's mother was Uzumaki Kushina, the second-oldest grandchild of last Daimyo of Uzu no Kuni."

Naruto and Karin's eyes both widened at that. This was the first Naruto had heard of her mother's relationship to the last Daimyo.

"She's Kushina-hime's daughter?" asked Karin. "When did Kushina-hime die?"

"Yes," said the Hokage. "Kushina-chan died the day Naruto-chan was born, unfortunately. We kept Naruto-chan's parentage a secret to protect her."

"My mother said that Kushina-hime was the most likely member of the Daimyo's family to have survived, since she was known to have gone to Konoha before the attack on Uzushio."

"Do you know how we're related, Karin-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Third or fourth cousins, I think," Karin said. "All Uzumaki are related, but my parents were not close to the ruling family."

"Do you know of any other relatives that survived?" Naruto asked.

Karin shook her head.

"I know of one," the Hokage said.

Both Uzumaki whipped their heads to look at him.

"My student, Senju Tsunade-chan is the granddaughter of Senju Mito-sama who was born Uzumaki Mito-sama. She was the aunt of the last Daimyo, so Tsunade-chan is your second cousin twice removed, Naruto-chan."

"How come she wasn't here for me?" asked Naruto.

The Hokage sighed. "Tsunade-chan has had to deal with great losses in her life. I'm sad to say that she's dealt with it by running away. I've allowed it, but it's been too long. She's not going to recover on her own. I've recalled her, but I don't know if she'll come on her own. She was always a stubborn woman."

He looked at Karin. "You were talking about your skills and what you wanted to do before we got side tracked."

"Oh yes," Karin said. "I like to help people, but I don't like that they have to bite me in order to heal them. I'd like to be a real medic nin or maybe a researcher."

"We can arrange that," said the Hokage. "I'd prefer that you not take missions outside the village, for now, so that there's less chance of news getting to Kusa. I can arrange for you to get an apartment in Naruto-chan's building. Another of Naruto-chan's friends that lives there has just started our medic nin training program. Naruto-chan can introduce you to her."

The Hokage made a few more arrangements with Karin and then dismissed them. He gave Karin a key to the apartment next to hers on the other side than Haku and Ranmaru's shared apartment.

As they walked to their apartment building, Karin asked, "What's your relationship to your male teammate?"

"We're friends," she said. "If anything, he's like a brother to me."

"Ah, good," Karin said. "You don't mind if I pursue him, then?"

Naruto snorted. "You and almost every other girl under 16 in the village and some older. I think Hinata-chan and I are the only two not doing so."

Karin grimaced.

"If you want my advice, Cuz," Naruto said, "be subtle and slow about it. Sasuke-kun doesn't like stalkers and he doesn't like girls after him for his family or his looks. If you become genuine friends with him first, he's more likely to go on a date with you. He's pretty good at reading people though. He'll be able to tell if you're being genuinely friendly or if your just being friendly to win him. The other thing is that he respects strength. He doesn't care for those that he doesn't think are taking being a kunoichi seriously."

Karin nodded thoughtfully. "Thanks, Cuz. I'll keep that in mind."

"Any girl trying to win his heart has a long road in front of her, at least starting now. Maybe when he's older he'll be more interested in that kind of thing."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sasuke's Rinne-Sharingan is simply the Rinnegan and Sharingan combined with no extra powers. He can't do the Infinite Tsukiyomi because he doesn't have the chakra for it and he doesn't have a sufficient connection to the moon. This is represented by him having less tomoe than Naruto.


	21. Chapter 21: A New Sensei

The next day Naruto met with her team to talk about training for the month before the Third Exam.

"First of all, Hinata-chan," said Kakashi, "your father has said he wishes to train you."

"Really?" Hinata asked, arching an eyebrow. "It's been quite a number of years since he's been interested in my training."

"I couldn't begin to be interested in the politics going on within the Hyuuga clan," Kakashi said. "If you want answers, you'll have to ask your father."

"So you think it was politics that made him distance himself from me?" Hinata asked.

"What part of 'couldn't begin to be interested' did you not understand, Hinata-chan?" Kakashi said with one of his eye smiles.

All three of the chuunin hopefuls rolled their eyes at their sensei's antics.

"Naruto-chan, Hokage-sama has found someone to teach you. You're to meet your sensei outside the Hot Springs this afternoon. An ANBU will point him out to you."

"The Hot Springs?" she asked doubtfully.

"I'm sure you will learn a lot," he said with another eye smile.

"Finally, Sasuke-kun," he continued. "You'll be staying with me. I apologize that you don't all get the experience of learning at my feet, but it wouldn't be fair to spread myself so thin."

"Somehow, I think Hinata-chan and I will survive, Sensei," Naruto said. "Make sure you teach Emo-chan more than how to be late."

* * *

That afternoon Naruto approached the Hot Springs dubiously. She stood near the front entrance. After a few minutes, a male ANBU in a bear mask appeared beside her.

"This way please, Uzumaki-san," he said.

He led her around to the back where she saw a tall, older man with spiky white hair standing on top of a toad. He was looking through a hole in the fence and giggling.

"Are you serious?" she asked the ANBU.

The ANBU nodded, shrugged, and then vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto sighed and then marched up to the man and said, "Hey, Pervert! Don't you have something else you're supposed to be doing?"

"Kid," the pervert responded, "don't make so much noise. You trying to get me killed?"

"The Hokage said you were supposed to help me," Naruto said, irritated.

He took a look at her and said, "Come back in five years and then I can help you."

"Get down from there and talk to me or else I'll scream," she said, furious.

The man gave a longsuffering sigh and then turned to face her. "What do you want, Bunny-chan."

"My sensei said that the Hokage had arranged for you to prepare me for the Chuunin Exam Final," she snapped. "But I'm having second thoughts on whether that would be worth it."

"You're Uzumaki Naruto?" he said dubiously. "I guess you kind of look like her, but she's blonde and wears a hideous orange jumpsuit." He flicked her ear-shaped horns. "She certainly doesn't have those ear things or white eyes."

"You're about four months out of date, Pervert," she snapped. "I can't believe the Hokage wouldn't have told you what happened to me if you were going to train me."

"I was in a rush," he admitted with a shrug. "He gave me a report, but I didn't read it. I prefer to make my own judgments.

"I know one way to make sure of if you're Naruto. Lift up your shirt."

"What," she said flatly.

"Come on. Lift up your shirt."

"After what I just saw you do, do you really think I'm going to lift up my shirt for you?" she snarled.

"What do you take me for?" he said, affronted. "You're much too young for what you're implying. I want to see your seal. Lift up your shirt and channel some chakra."

"Fine," she said. "You better be an awesome sensei."

She lifted her shirt to expose her navel and then channeled some chakra. A whirlpool design with eight spokes coming out of it came into view.

"Believe me now?" she said.

He nodded absently. "What did happen to you?" he asked.

"Read the report. It'll have what you're supposed to know."

He glared at her.

"I don't even know your name," she said, glaring back. "The ANBU only pointed you out to me. I don't know what you're cleared for and what you're not cleared for."

"Ah," he said with a smile. "Then let me introduce myself." He started to do an odd shuffling dance. "From Mount Myouboku, the man that every man wants to be and every woman wants to be with, I am the Gallant Jiraiya, the Toad Sage!"

"Uh huh," she said flatly. "I might have been impressed before I actually met you."

"What?" he said. "I'm one of the Densetsu no Sannin, the sensei of the Yondaime Hokage, the Gama Sennin, and one of the most powerful shinobi currently alive."

"Wow," she said and then as he started to grin added, "The Yondaime must have been more talented than I thought to work past that handicap!"

"Listen, Brat," he said. "Do you want to learn from me or not?"

"Why would I want to learn from a perverted has-been who can't even read his mission briefing?" she asked.

"To be fair, you've changed dramatically since the last time I checked up on you—and I'm not talking about your looks."

"It's amazing what actually having positive attention will do for a kid," she said sarcastically. Then she had a sudden thought. "You know who I am. You knew my parents. That's the only reason you would check up on me."

"I am the village's foremost seal expert," he said blankly. "Checking up on the village jinchuuriki is one of my responsibilities."

"You were my father's sensei. . ." she started.

"Not here," he said firmly. He grabbed her arm and they disappeared in a Flicker. They reappeared in an empty training ground.

"You were my father's sensei," she repeated angrily once they stabilized their position. "Was he just a job for you? Was he just another thing to make you famous?"

He gently placed a finger over her mouth. "No, he was like my son. I was devastated when he died."

"Then why did I grow up alone and unloved, _Grandpa_?" she said sarcastically.

He sighed. "The Hokage asked me to keep my distance to avoid drawing attention to you. With your old coloring, if I took care of you, it would have been obvious whose daughter you were. I didn't agree with the decision, but I understood it. I didn't fight it too hard because the job I do for the village keeps me on the road a lot."

She looked at him doubtfully. "That deflects the blame nicely, but yet you couldn't be bothered to read what the Hokage's report on me."

"I told you, Kid. I wanted to get to know you in person, now that I was finally allowed to meet you."

She stared at him for a few moments. He seemed mostly sincere. "Fine. What are you going to teach me?"

He smiled broadly. He bit his thumb and slammed it into the ground while saying, "Summoning Technique!"

Characters and symbols spread out from where he had touched the ground and a large toad that came up to her chest appeared in a puff of smoke. The toad had a large scroll on his back.

"I can teach you to summon Toads!" he said proudly.

 _The Toads can be an effective ally, Stepmother,_ the Kyuubi said, _but I would recommend holding off on signing the contract. The Summon clans only permit one contract among them. If you sign with the Toads, you will not be able to sign with another clan._

 _Is there another clan that would fit me better?_ she asked.

 _I don't know. Your father summoned Toads, but your mother summoned Falcons._ _I just think you should research which summon clan you want to ally with._

She thought for a minute. "I'm not dismissing the value of the Toads, but shouldn't I know more about Summons before I choose one?"

He laughed. "You make it sound like Summon contracts are common. They aren't. Most shinobi aren't given a chance to sign a contract."

"What about my mother's contract?" she asked. "Who has that?"

He blinked. "Sensei, the Hokage, has it, I think. He's holding it with your mother's other things until you're old enough for them. Come to think of it, I believe your mother had several Summon contracts salvaged from Uzushio, although she could only sign one of them."

Naruto smiled. "There you go. I should wait until I can make an educated decision. Do you know when the Hokage was going to give me my parents things?"

Jiraiya scratched his head. "I think he was planning on giving you some of them when you made chuunin."

"Will a Summon contract help me with the Chuunin Exam?" she asked.

"Not directly," he admitted. "That's one of the reasons why Sensei hasn't given you any of the Uzushio contracts yet. The Exam proctors are looking more for your own skill rather than power or connections. Plus, most summons are either not helpful for the Third Exam or are overkill."

"Okay, I'll wait on that then," she said. "I do have some ideas on what I'd like to learn."

"Just a moment, Naruto-chan," Jiraiya said. "While Summons won't help you directly for the Exam, I do think it's time for you to start mastering the Kyuubi's chakra. Sensei told me that you knew about it."

She shook her head. "I can already do that."

"How many tails?" he asked her.

"Tails?" she asked, confused. Then she thought of the way her hair acted. "Ten, I suppose."

"Ten?" he laughed. "It's the _Kyuubi_. Maybe you better show me."

She shrugged. "Okay."

 _Send me some chakra, please,_ she said to the Kyuubi.

She felt the Kyuubi's chakra bubble up within her. She purified it and sent it outward. Her hair grew and separated into ten "tails." She noticed that her Doujutsus both activated in the process.

Jiraiya's jaw dropped. He shut it and then said, "I don't know what that was, but it wasn't the Kyuubi, Naruto-chan. I've felt the Kyuubi's chakra before, and while what you're doing is impressive, it's not that."

"Of course," she said. "I'm purifying the chakra and making it mine. I couldn't use it if I didn't, right?"

He laughed. "Purifying it? Are you sure?"

She nodded and let go of the chakra. "You should have read the report. I'm sure this would make more sense."

He shook his head and laughed. "Most jinchuuriki can't purify their Bijuu's chakra. They use it as is. In fact, I've never heard of one that could. Your mother couldn't."

"Huh," she said. "I wonder if it's another of those transmigration things."

"Transmigration?" he asked.

She gave him a rundown on her kidnapping, how she had met the Kyuubi, and what he had said about Kaguya and her transmigration.

"I'd heard that you had been kidnapped," he said, "but you escaped before I could do anything about it." He paused and then said. "Were you using the Byakugan? And that third eye—I couldn't decide if it was the Sharingan or the Rinnegan."

"Yes on the Byakugan," she responded. "My other eye started as the Sharingan and still starts that way unless I use more chakra, but Hokage-jiichan thinks it might be a combination of the two now. He's been calling it the Rinne-Sharingan."

She told him about Orochimaru's attack and the results of it.

"Really? the Uchiha can do your fancy new eye, too?"

She nodded. "It has less tomoe in it and he can't use it for as long, but yes."

"Did Sensei tell you I knew a kid that had the Rinnegan?"

She nodded.

"So what do you think you need for the Third Exam?" he asked after a few moments.

"Speed and to a lesser extent strength. When I fought Orochimaru, I could anticipate what he was going to do through the Sharingan, but I couldn't keep up with him. I can make loads of Shadow Clones and I know a small number of Wind Techniques and I've started to learn some Fire ones. My taijutsu is decent, but not exceptional. More speed would help with that."

"Huh," Jiraiya said. "That's a pretty decent plan. I can help you with that some, but you won't become hugely faster in just one month."

"I realize that," she said, "but I think that will help me the most for the Exam and in the long run."

"Any other wants?" he asked.

"You said you were good with fuuinjutsu?" she said. "Since I found out that it was one of my parents' specialties, I've been interested in it. I've dedicated a few clones a day to improving my calligraphy so that I could eventually learn it."

He rubbed his chin. "Fuuinjutsu would definitely help you long term, but not so much for the Exam. I can get you started on the basics, but I don't recommend emphasizing it for the next month."

She nodded. "Other than that, I'm open to what you think would be helpful, Ero-sensei."

He scowled at her. "Just 'Sensei' is fine."

She grinned. "You didn't think I was going to let you off the hook for earlier, did you?"

* * *

Naruto discovered that Jiraiya was a decent teacher—when she could get him to focus. It helped that she had specific things she wanted out of him. However, once she got started on any exercises he gave her, he usually vanished. She thought of using Disguise to appear as an older, more developed version of herself to keep him attention, but decided that that kind of attention would not help her.

To help her with her speed and strength, he drew some Resistance Seals on arm and leg bands and a belt. To go with that, he gave her some exercises to do and instructions on when to turn them off and when to increase the resistance.

He gave her a basic fuuinjutsu primer and gave her some tips on making Storage Seals. She mainly had her clones reading the primer and practicing. The primer actually had very few practical seals in it—just a few very basic chakra detection seals and Storage Seals. She was disappointed that the primer did not have any Explosive Seals, as she could have used them in the Exams.

She also had her clones working on chakra control. By this time, she was using an Intro to Medical Ninjutsu book to get more challenging chakra control exercises. She was disappointed that the book did not contain any actual medical ninjutsu as that would have been interesting. She had found a waterfall and her clones were working on the splitting it to help with her Wind Manipulation. She had also started on the Fire Manipulation exercises that she had seen Hinata and Sasuke working on.

The Fireball (a single large fireball) and Phoenix Flower (a spread of smaller fireballs) Techniques were the only techniques that she had copied with her Sharingan, so she also had clones work on perfecting those. She had copied those from Sasuke, but that was okay since he had copied Great Breakthrough and Gale Palm from her. The Fire Release Techniques were not much harder than the Wind Release Techniques were when she first learned the Great Breakthrough. Wind Techniques were much easier now that she had spent the time working on Wind Manipulation. In addition to Great Breakthrough (a large wall of pushing wind) and Gale Palm (a small directed pushing wind useful for speeding up kunai or shuriken), she had learned the Wind Blade Technique (a launched blade of wind) from Asuma. She had also started to learn how to do Asuma's Flying Swallow Technique to add an extended blade of Wind to a weapon, but without a chakra-conductive weapon the size of the blade extension she could produce was very limited.

She remembered that Fire Techniques consumed Wind Techniques and asked Jiraiya about combining them. He told her that collaboration techniques with Wind and Fire were possible and gave her some tips for combining them, such not to use wide area effect techniques such as Great Breakthrough. To that end, she talked Asuma to teach her the Air Bullet Technique which she could combine with Phoenix Flower using a Shadow Clone. She practiced the collaboration under the Toad Sage's supervision.

Jiraiya gave her some clues on the capabilities of the Rinnegan. He told her stories about the orphans from Ame that he had briefly taught including the one that had the Rinnegan. The boy was young when he had taught him, so he had not uncovered all of its capabilities. Besides the gravity powers that Naruto had already discovered, Nagato had been able to summon a variety of animals without a contract, absorb people's memories (although the process was lethal), and to absorb chakra from techniques that were fired at him. He could also use all five nature releases easily.

A week before the Finals, Jiraiya taught her an Earth Release Technique called Swamp of the Underworld. It created a sticky, muddy mess that limited mobility by causing enemies to sink into it. Jiraiya thought it would complement her distance techniques.


	22. Chapter 22: Finals

Naruto arrived at the Chuunin Exam Stadium ten minutes before she was supposed to. She had already created a bunch of contingency clones that Disguised themselves so that she had backup, if she needed it. A few of them were Disguised as Hyuugas so that they could use their Byakugan. The clones were going to scatter themselves throughout the audience. She was actually one of the last to arrive. Only Shino and the Suna shinobi had not. The Oto nin, Kin, was looking sleep-deprived and nervous.

Naruto walked over to where Hinata and Sasuke were standing. Sakura was also standing nearby, but Sasuke was pointedly ignoring her.

"Hi, Hinata-chan, Emo-chan," she said to her teammates.

They responded, "Hello, Naruto-chan," and "Dead Last."

"I'm kind of surprised you aren't late, Emo-chan," Naruto continued, "but I'm glad Kakashi-sensei didn't rub off on you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "He tried to talk me into making a 'grand entrance,' but I declined."

The three of them made small talk with Sakura trying to interfere in the conversation. The Suna shinobi arrived about five minutes later. The Ichibi jinchuuriki continued to try and bore a hole through Naruto with his eyes.

Shino arrived exactly one minute before he was due.

The ten of them were called into the center of the arena. The Hokage gave a speech while they stood there. Then an announcer introduced them. The proctor, who was different than the one who ran the preliminaries, repeated the rules, which were the same as the preliminaries. This proctor's most notable feature was the senbon he kept in his mouth almost like a cigarette. His name was Shiranui Genma.

Hinata's match was first. When the rest of them were dismissed to the stands, she saw her friend casually rub her ears.

The match was over fairly quickly. The Oto kunoichi launched senbon at Hinata, but she deflected the ones that came at her with a chakra-coated palm and ignored the rest. The Oto shinobi tried to retreat, but Hinata pursued her relentlessly. After a few short hops backward that caused her to lose ground, the Oto girl quickly turned to run. That was the moment that Hinata was waiting for. She lunged at her and disabled her using the Gentle Fist.

"Winner: Hyuuga Hinata of Konoha!" called the proctor.

Hinata reached for her ears again and then bowed to the Hokage and waved to the crowd. Naruto cheered happily for her teammate.

Sasuke and Shino's match was next. This match was a relentless game of cat and mouse, with Sasuke trying to herd Shino into a corner. Shino was elusive and kept laying traps with his kikaichuu bugs which Sasuke ruthless destroyed with Fire Release Techniques. Several times Sasuke tried to catch Shino with his wire techniques, but Shino was quick with his Replacement techniques, and Sasuke only caught Bug Clones which dissolved into kikaichuu which launched themselves at the Uchiha only to be turned to ash by a Fireball.

Finally, Shino called out, "Proctor, I forfeit. Why? Because my kikaichuu are mostly gone and I know from experience that Uchiha-san can best me handily in taijutsu."

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha!"

Sakura's match was next against mini-Gai. Lee spent several minutes before the match telling Sakura how he would defeat her quickly and gently, but how he could not let his feelings for her interfere with his dreams.

"Can we just start, please?" Sakura finally interrupted.

When the match started, Sakura quickly cast a multi-layered genjutsu on Lee.

Lee shouted, "Release!" and let out a burst of chakra.

"You see, my Sakura," he proclaimed, "I have trained tirelessly with Gai-sensei in order to be able to defeat your genjutsu so that my Youth may not be diminished and that the Springtime of my Youth might not end early!"

Sakura circled around behind him as he continued to talk to the location she had been standing. Naruto saw with her Byakugan that she was continuing to layer genjutsu upon the helpless and oblivious boy.

Lee engaged in a short shadow boxing match with an opponent only he could see. He stopped and then turned to face where he thought Genma was. "Proctor?" he called, only to be clocked in the back of his head by a full-strength punch from Sakura. He dropped like a lead weight. Naruto knew form experience in the Academy just how hard Sakura could hit.

"Winner: Haruno Sakura of Konoha!"

Naruto's match against the Suna kunoichi, Temari, was next. Naruto hopped over the edge of the competitor's box and made her way to the center of the arena.

"You going to take my advice?" Temari asked.

"I know what your brother is and I'm not afraid of him," Naruto responded.

"Your funeral," the Suna kunoichi said doubtfully. Naruto knew that she meant it literally.

"You both know the rules?" Genma asked.

"Yes," they both responed.

"You ready?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Start!" Genma yelled as he leaped away.

Naruto opened with an overloaded Great Breakthrough as Temari swung her giant fan. Naruto's Wind Technique overpowered Temari's, sending the Suna nin flying backward. Naruto used the opportunity to create twenty Shadow Clones which spread out in a large semicircle. All of them had their Byakugan active from the start since Wind Release Techniques were difficult to see with the naked eye. She kept her Sharingan in reserve, since she did not expect to need it.

Naruto and her clones started firing staggered Air Bullets at Temari. The blonde responded by swinging her fan quickly to release Wind blades that disrupted the bullets. However, she couldn't keep up with the large number of them, forcing her to jump back.

Naruto and her clones repeated the staggered Air Bullet swarm to keep forcing Temari back. The Suna nin quickly figured out she was being herded, so she jumped back and made a large swing of her fan while shouting, "Great Task of the Dragon!"

The technique summoned a large tornado that roared toward Naruto. Five of Naruto's clones blew it away with Great Breakthroughs.

Naruto and her clones launched another Air Bullet swarm. Temari leaped back and bit her thumb and wiped the blood on her fan and swung it. A child-sized weasel with an eyepatch and a large sickle appeared in a puff of smoke, riding the currents from Temari's technique. The weasel and sickle spun quickly towards her original position like a shuriken. She had long since swapped with a clone via a seal-less, smoke-less Replacement, but did not want to ruin her formation. All 21 Narutos launched overloaded Great Breakthroughs at the weasel. The weasel was launched backwards toward the arena wall at high speed, where it hit with a thump and dispersed.

With one more Air Bullet swarm, Temari was at the base of the arena wall. The clone in Naruto's original postion paused to make two more clones that jogged to another area of the arena. Her clones disrupted Temari's techniques while waiting on the two clones.

"Hey, Temari," said the clone in the prime position, pointing to the two clones off by themselves. "Want to see something cool?" They were going to do something very showy and destructive. She had actually not tested this version of it yet, not having a good location to try it, but based on "lesser" versions she had tried it would work and should be safe, since it was only clones using it. Naruto did not actually want to badly hurt the Kazekage's daughter and the recipient of this technique would be very badly hurt, if not dead.

One clone launched an overpowered Great Breakthrough while the other launched an overpowered Fireball. Both clones dispersed due to an unpleasant, fiery death. Naruto decided it was not a combo to use lightly. The dirt in a large cone in front of their former position was turned to glass and the wall at the base of the cone was covered in thick, black soot. The shield guarding the spectators was shimmering in the heat haze.

"You think ten times that might be overkill?" the prime clone asked.

"You wouldn't with yourself this close," the Kazekage's daughter declared.

The prime clone chuckled. "You saw the preliminaries. Who says I'm really here?"

"Proctor, I surrender," Temari said with a grimace.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!" Genma announced.

"You have some awesome techniques," Naruto said to Temari as they walked back to the competitor's box. "Do you hold the weasel contract?"

"Thanks and I do," Temari said. "How did you overpower your techniques that much and do so many?"

"I have jounin-level chakra reserves as an unofficial bloodline ability," Naruto said. They were well beyond that, but technically a kage was a jounin. While not strictly speaking a Bloodline Ability, monstrous chakra reserves, was an Uzumaki trait. "Is Wind Release common in Suna? There aren't many here that I can go to for help."

"You're Wind Release?" Temari asked.

According to what Jiraiya had said, it was likely she had an affinity for all five basic Nature Transformations due to the Rinne-Sharingan, but she was not going to say that to a foreign shinobi.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. It was her primary affinity, after all.

"While not all Suna shinobi have Wind affinity, a substantial number do."

"Why didn't you injure me or even kill me?" Temari asked quietly as they walked up the stairs.

Naruto looked at her funny. "Suna and Konoha are allies. Why would I try to hurt you if I didn't need to over something like the Exams? Plus, you seem like a pretty decent person."

"Thanks," Temari said, subdued.

Naruto wondered what the big deal was. Maybe having an anti-social brother had jaded her.

The two kunoichi nodded to each other as they separated to sit by their teammates.

When the next match was announced, Kankorou forfeited without even leaving his seat. Naruto had half expected that based on the way Gaara and his siblings interacted. The crowd booed in response.

"Winner: Gaara of Suna!"

The proctor announced a thirty-minute break until the next round.

Naruto noticed that Sakura, who was standing by Shino, was glancing nervously at Sasuke. Naruto decided to give the girl a break, since she had been impressed by the girl's performance up till now. She walked over to the members of Team 8.

"You know that if you forfeit, he'll never respect you," she said. "Sasuke respects strength more than anything."

"Why would you help me?" Sakura said suspiciously. "I bet you want him for yourself!"

Naruto giggled. "I'm not interested in dating anyone. I'm too young and too interested in being a shinobi. Besides, I think of Emo-chan as a brother."

"Stop calling Sasuke-kun names, Bunny-chan!" Sakura said, taking a swipe at her.

Naruto, who had been expecting it, dodged out of the way. "Don't say I never helped you, Forehead!" she called back as she skipped back to where Sasuke and Hinata were waiting.

"What were you doing over there, Dead Last," Sasuke said suspiciously.

"Trying to help your number-one fan get a clue," she said.

"I thought we were friends, Naruto-chan?" he complained.

"Sasuke-kun, if she turned into someone you liked, wouldn't that be a win for you?" she teased.

"No," he said. "Now stop it."

* * *

After the break, Sasuke and Sakura took the field. Sakura had a determined look on her face while Sasuke looked impassive. Naruto turned on her Byakugan.

Once again Sakura started off with a multi-layered genjutsu. Sasuke had his Sharingan blaring, so they should not affect him. However, his movements seemed a little drunken and the shuriken he threw at her were not targeted to his usual standard, but he seemed to be aware of where she was.

"Must be a non-visual genjutsu," Hinata murmured. "Possibly affecting his inner ear."

"She really is good at genjutsu," said Naruto.

"She got the perfect teacher for her aptitudes," said Hinata.

Sasuke realized something was off and flared his chakra, shouting, "Release!"

After that the match was quickly over as Sasuke closed the range and had no problems beating her in taijutsu.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha!"

"Are you ready for this?" Hinata asked Naruto.

Naruto smiled at her in return. "I've got this, no problem."

In truth she was a little nervous, but she figured that if he did release the Ichibi, she could handle it. She had worked out a decent game plan for his normal sand abilities with some feedback from Jiraiya. Most shinobi were pretty one-dimensional. The fact that they were versatile is what made people like Jiichan and the Sannin so powerful. The least versatile Sannin was Tsunade and she was an acknowledged expert in two fields: medical ninjutsu and taijutsu. Theoretically, jounin were supposed to be diversified, but few truly were. The chuunin hopefuls she had seen so far, even the powerful and skilled ones, did not have anything in reserve if you could counter their specialty. The only real exceptions were Sasuke and, to a lesser extent, Hinata. And Naruto herself, of course. She patted the weapon's pouch that had her primary counter to Gaara. She had a secondary counter, too. Jiraiya said that you should always have, at the bare minimum, two plans for beating an enemy shinobi. He said he was not truly comfortable unless he had three, preferably four. She had Plan C and D, but she hoped she did not need them.

She hopped down to the arena floor and made her way to the center.

"Do you both understand the rules?" Genma asked.

"Yes," Naruto said.

Gaara just stared at her creepily.

"Gaara of Suna, do you understand the rules?" Genma repeated.

Gaara nodded, his eyes not leaving her.

"Ready?" the proctor asked.

"Yes," Naruto said.

Gaara said, "Mother wants your blood."

Genma frowned, but said, "Start!"

Naruto jumped back several times. Sand was already leaving the gourd on Gaara's back.

Naruto quickly did the Boar and Tiger seals and yelled, "Swamp of the Underworld!" She poured a large amount of chakra into it.

The ground underneath Gaara turned to goo and he started to sink into it. More sand poured out of his gourd and began pulling him up. He was up to his knees in the muck. The muck did not easily let him go.

The first sand out of the gourd was still heading toward her. She removed a kunai from her special pouch and flung it at the sand. It trailed a paper tag like an explosive kunai. However, instead of exploding in fire and pressure, the tag exploded in a large quantity of water due to being a time-release storage seal filled with obscene amounts of the liquid. Jiraiya had only gotten as far as teaching her storage seals as far as fuuinjutsu went, but he had been willing to teach her how to add this trigger when she had asked. She had made the tags herself. The sand collapsed under the additional weight.

Naruto summoned Shadow Clones which spread out around the edge of the swamp. She swapped seallessly with one of them that was behind her opponent. By this time, Gaara had managed to pull himself out of the swamp and was floating on a "cloud" made of sand. She tossed another of her special kunai at his gourd at the same time that her clones threw its duplicates. Sand moved to block all of the kunai, but they exploded into water which drenched the Suna nin. She was not sure how long the cloned water would persist, but there was enough real water there to make things difficult for him.

The boy sank onto the surface of the swamp, but did not sink. He must still have some control of the wet sand. To confirm that, a bunch of wet clumpy sand arose into the air and dispersed, moving through the air in small bits so that it would dry out.

Deciding it was time for Plan B, Naruto whistled a short code and then swapped with a clone. Two clones sacrificed themselves and their neighbors by using the combo from hell: overloaded Great Breakthrough and overloaded Fireball as soon as the sand came back together in mass.

When the smoke cleared masses of broken glass of various sizes lay on the surface of the swamp and Gaara was nowhere to be seen. Naruto hoped he was alright, since she did not want to kill the other jinchuuriki.

Her Byakugan focused on the swamp and she could see his chakra. A mass of potent, insane-feeling chakra exploded out of him and a mass of sand in the shape of a giant tanuki grew out of the swamp.

 _Meet your craziest stepson, the Ichibi no Tanuki_ , the Kyuubi said.

Feather-like constructs fell from the sky. Her Byakugan could tell they were not real. A foreign chakra tried to invade her system, but she easily expelled it.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** For the curious, Shino surrendered because, in his experience, Sasuke is dangerously unstable. He's unaware of how much his mental state has improved since he got a team.

Kin figured out something was up and avoided everyone for the training month. Orochimaru let her go, for the moment, since he has no shortage of mooks to use for Edo Tensai, but it's only a reprieve since she didn't accomplish anything in her match to earn forgiveness.

The two matches not occurring because of the invasion are the Semifinal match between Sasuke and Hinata and then the Final.


	23. Chapter 23: Invasion

Naruto looked up at the giant tanuki. It radiated massive killing intent. After dealing with the massive rage associated with the Kyuubi's chakra before she purified it, she was not that impressed and shrugged it off. Her Byakugan told her that Gaara was using the Ichibi's chakra. She knew she would need the Kyuubi to fight the giant tanuki, since she wasn't sure that she had enough personal chakra to deal with even the weakest Bijuu. Plus, she'd used up too much of her own reserves to manifest her chakra externally.

 _Kyuubi?_ she asked mentally. _Will you give me some chakra, please?_

She heard a mental snort. _Certainly, Stepmother. I've never liked the insane tanuki anyway._

She felt the Kyuubi's chakra bubbling up inside her. She cleansed the rage from it and made it hers. She pushed it outward. The world in front of her became crystal clear as her third eye opened. Her hair grew and split into ten locks. She directed two of the "tails" to push her up into the air until she was even with the tanuki's chest. She knew that being held up by her hair should hurt, but somehow the force that animated her hair supported her.

"You won't deny my existence, Uzumaki," Gaara yelled from within the giant sand tanuki. "I'll feed your blood to mother and prove my right to exist!"

"Why would your mother want my blood, Gaara-san?" she called back. "I've never met her!"

"Mother always wants blood!" Gaara answered back.

 _The hairless ape is as crazy as his 'guest,' Stepmother_ , the Kyuubi said.

"Ask your mother if she _really_ wants to provoke me, Gaara-san," Naruto said.

For a moment, Gaara was silent. "Why do you make Mother nervous, Uzumaki?"

"The Ichibi is not your mother, Gaara-san," Naruto said.

"You know nothing!" Gaara screamed. "You will not deny my existence!"

Gaara waved his hand and a large sphere of sand flew towards her. She sent two locks of white hair toward it. The hair blocked the sand. The sand tried to seep around and through the hair, but the animating force of the hair prevented it.

She sent two other locks of hair toward the sand tanuki. Gaara moved to block it with sand. The hair speared into the sand, penetrating it, but not enough to hit the tanuki, much less the boy inside.

"Why do you think that if you lose a fight, you'll lose your existence?" she called.

"Only the strong survive!" Gaara answered. "The strong destroy the weak. The weak cease to exist."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Naruto said. "That's why we have ninja and hidden villages, so that the weak don't have to fight and die."

"The ninja and their villages," sneered the Ichibi jinchuuriki. "More weaklings that try and pull down the strong with their tricks and lies. Die!"

He sent more sand at her. She blocked it with locks of her hair. Soon six of her locks were arrayed in front of her, with the ends splayed out like hands or shields. Luckily she could see through them with her Byakugan. Unfortunately, the hair blocked the predictive capabilities of her Sharingan, but she managed because she was faster than Gaara.

She examined the chakra in the sand that was being held off by her hair. The Ichibi's chakra was an incomplete version of her own chakra like the Kyuubi's was, but the Ichibi's was different than the Kyuubi's. Like the Kyuubi's it had a veneer of negative emotions clinging to it, but instead of rage, it stank of madness. She pulled on the chakra in the sand. It came easily. She purged the madness from it and absorbed it into herself. The sand fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Gaara cried out. "Stop that!"

She absorbed the chakra from all the sand that was assaulting her.

"Mother save me!" the boy said.

The tanuki formed a Ram seal and called, "Tanuki Sleep Technique."

The boy rose to the surface of the sand tanuki where he could be seen sticking out of its forehead. He was slumped over, asleep.

"I'm free!" came from the tanuki's mouth. The tanuki started to giggle insanely. Then it realized Naruto was there.

"What are you doing here, Kaguya?" it said. "I'm not going back to you! You can't make me!"

"This village is under my protection, Ichibi," Naruto warned. "Go back inside the boy or I'll drain you dry."

"No!" the Ichibi said. "I won't go back!"

 _If you wake the hairless ape,_ the Kyuubi said, _it will force Shukaku back inside him, Stepmother._

 _Thanks, Kyuubi_ , Naruto said.

She sent locks of hair toward the tanuki. The Ichibi blocked them with sand. She drained the sand, but the Bijuu kept sending it.

She thought about the Divine Will Technique that Hinata had done. She wondered if there was something that was the opposite—that would pull Gaara toward her. She focused on the gravitational forces that she could sense with her Rinne-Sharingan.

"Heavenly Attaction!" she called, focusing on the lines of force between her and Gaara.

She went flying toward him. She hastily shielded herself from the sand that was sent her by Shukaku.

The Kyuubi let loose booming laughter from within her mind. _You lack the leverage or the mass to pull toward you a body anchored by Shukaku, Stepmother._

 _This still works_ , she answered.

She raised a fist as she plowed right into the Suna shinobi.

The sand tanuki dispersed and they both began to fall. She sent her two hair "legs" down to stop her fall. Another lock of hair shortened itself and caught the boy.

"It can't end like this!" Gaara said. "After everything, my existence can't end."

"Gaara-san," Naruto said, "I used to feel like you—that nobody liked me. I wanted to lash out at everyone too, but I figured out that I was happier when I was not full of anger or hate."

"You don't know how I feel, Uzumaki," Gaara said. "I've seen you with your team. They care about you."

"I do know, Gaara-san," she responded. "Until five months ago, my only friends were a pair of Ramen-stand workers and the Hokage. Nearly everyone else hated me and ignored me. The only thing that kept me from being killed or worse was the Hokage setting ANBU to watching me." She quietly added. "They were also probably the only thing that kept me from destroying the village." She paused for emphasis. "Number One meet Number Nine." She pointed to Gaara and then herself.

Understanding flashed in Gaara's eyes.

"Is that why you make Mother nervous?" he asked.

"Not exactly," she said. "If we get a chance later, I might be able to tell you about that." She paused and then said, "Look, Gaara-kun. Your brother and sister are on your team, right? Why don't you try and reconcile with them? I know what a difference having even just one or two people you can trust can make. You'll never be happy if you're alone. What use is being strong if you aren't happy? Plus, having the support of friends makes you stronger. It's win-win."

"I will consider your words, Uzumaki-san," the redheaded boy said.

Naruto saw two ANBU approach from behind her in her Byakugan. She depowered down to where she was manifesting only her standard doujutsus.

"Good work, Uzumaki-san," one in a wolf mask said. "We'll handle it from here and take Gaara-san to where we're keeping the other Suna prisoners. Your sensei is over there." He pointed to a location in the stands where Kakashi was talking with Gai.

Naruto looked at all her hair, which was pooling around her in a big mess. While she was fighting Gaara, she had actually pulled some of it in. She tried to pull it in, but nothing happened. She manifested her chakra externally again, and then concentrated on pulling it in. It worked! She powered down again. No more cutting her hair after a big fight!

She used her Byakugan to examine the arena. The civilians were being evacuated, but it was slow due to the number of them. Most of the fighting in the arena itself had stopped, but there were bodies littering various locations. Most of them wore Sound or Sand Badges, but some of them wore the Leaf or were civilians. Genin and chuunin were shepherding the civilians out and guarding the exits. A group of ANBU surrounded a purple box. Inside the box, the Hokage was fighting Orochimaru and a couple of men with very strange chakra systems. Elsewhere, there were a few remaining pockets of fighting involving jounin. Sasuke and Hinata were by the Daimyo's box. A few of her clones had popped during the fighting, but she still had a bunch of them helping with the evacuation.

Naruto bounded over to where Kakashi was.

"Good work with Gaara, Naruto-chan," Kakashi said.

"Yes, your Flames of Youth shined very brightly, Naruto-kun," Gai boomed.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei," Naruto responded.

"Go and join your teammates in watching the Daimyo-sama's party, Naruto-chan," Kakashi said. "Tell your teammates that the three of you are to follow what the Ninja Guardians say to do until you're relieved by someone from Konoha. I suspect that they'll want to evacuate the Daimyo-sama and his family last."

"Yes, Sensei," she said.

She jogged over to the Daimyo's box. Inside were the Daimyo and his wife were lying on the floor and the two of the Twelve Ninja Guardians who were present were crouched near them in a ready position. A chuunin guarded the door into the arena passageways. Hinata and Sasuke were stationed outside the box in the seats below it. Three dead bodies lay near Hinata's feet and two near Sasuke's. All five of them were wearing Sound Badges.

"How's it going, guys?" she asked. Naruto made 50 Shadow Clones. Ten of them stayed close for contingencies, while the other forty spread out into the village to help out.

"It was a little exciting for about ten minutes," Sasuke said, "but it's calmed down now."

Naruto passed on Kakashi's orders and then asked, "Do you think they'll let us finish the tournament?"

"I don't know," Hinata responded. "We're the only three left, so it could be held any time due to no foreign participants."

"That assumes that the Dead Last's match counts as a win for her," Sasuke said with a smirk. "I don't know if it counts due to the invasion."

"Hey," Naruto complained. "I totally won that match. Didn't you see me win that match, Emo-chan?"

"I think it was the arena-wide genjutsu that won that match for you, Dead Last," Sasuke said.

Naruto smacked him in the shoulder. "That's weak, Emo-chan, even for you."

"I'm a little worried about my own showing," Hinata said worriedly.

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "You totally beat that Oto kunoichi, Hinata-chan."

"I know," Hinata. "I beat her too easily and too quickly. I didn't get a chance to showcase my abilities and that was my only match. You both had two matches and got to showcase your abilities more fully."

"No use worrying about it right now," Naruto said.

The three genin continued to engage in small talk while they kept a watch out. After a while, Naruto noticed something odd in the purple box that enclosed the Hokage and Orochimaru.

"Can you tell what's happening with Orochimaru and the Hokage, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"It looks like that spirit that Hokage-sama summoned is pulling Orochimaru's chakra from his arms," she answered.

The spirit cut something from Orochimaru with a tantou and then that something and something from the Hokage flowed into it and the spirit disappeared. The Hokage dropped to the ground dead. Orochimaru yelled something. The purple box dropped and the four people that had been at the corners fled carrying Orochimaru while ANBU chased them.

"No!" Naruto cried, "Jiichan!" She choked back tears.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked.

"Hokage-sama is dead," Hinata said sadly.


	24. Chapter 24: A Funeral and Two Madmen

**Author's Note:** Two more arcs until the time skip. At this point I'm planning on making Shippuden era a sequel, but I do plan to do it. Although it probably won't last as long as canon.

* * *

The day of the Hokage's funeral was overcast. Because of the large number of people that wanted to be there, they had opted to have the public service outside at the cemetary. Rain threatened. In some ways, Naruto wished it would do so. That way nature would be crying like she wanted to. She refused to cry in public. One of the old fogeys that she often saw coming out of the Hokage's office was giving a eulogy, but it was all meaningless words to her. To her the most important thing was that the Hokage had treated her like family.

She could not help but look at Konohamaru, who was not able to hold back the tears, and feel for him. He was standing next to his uncle Asuma, whose face was shadowed by regret, at the front. She had seen Jiraiya's large form in the back.

She was standing next to her team. Since only Hinata in their team had any family, they had naturally gravitated together. Hinata had opted to stand with them rather than her clan. Hinata had her arm around her waist to give her comfort. Both her genin teammates knew how close she had been to the Hokage.

The funeral ended and most of the crowd left. Konohamaru lingered until Asuma led him off. Kakashi left. Soon it was only Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and a few other lingering shinobi.

"I wish I could have done something," Naruto whispered.

"I know how you feel," Sasuke said. "When _he_ slaughtered my clan, I would have given anything, including my life, in order to be able to stop him."

"With all my power and abilities, I feel like I should have been able to do something," Naruto whispered.

"You're only twelve," Hinata murmured. "I have no doubt that in a few years Orochimaru will be as dust before you."

"That doesn't help me protect those I care about _now_ ," Naruto said sadly.

"You didn't do too badly in the forest," Sasuke said.

"Pure luck and the Snake Jerk's ego," Naruto said.

They lapsed into silence until Hinata said, "Go say goodbye to him, Naru-chan. We'll wait for you."

Naruto walked up to the casket. The Old Man looked so different now in death. The warmth that had animated him in life was gone. He looked much more frail now.

"Hey, Jiichan, it's me," she said. "I know you'd tell me it wasn't my fault, but I can't help but blame myself. I should have helped after I was done with Gaara-san." A sob broke out. "I love you and I'll miss you, Jiichan. I know you tried your best for me."

She ran back to her teammates and threw herself into Hinata's arms. Sasuke awkwardly patted her shoulder.

After she composed herself, the three of them left the cemetery.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto awoke to pounding on her door. She glanced at her clock. It was 10 o'clock. She decided she did not have grounds to murder whoever it was.

Throwing on a robe over her sleepwear, she exited her room and then opened her front door. Jiraiya stood there.

"What do you want, Ero-sensei?" she asked.

"I've got a mission that I think you could help me with. Get going. We leave in half an hour."

"What?" she almost shrieked. "I have people I need to tell!"

"Send clones!" Jiraiya said.

"Fine! Fine!" she muttered. "Just let me get ready."

* * *

"So, what's the mission, Ero-sensei?" Naruto asked once they were a couple of miles outside of Konoha.

"We're looking for my old teammate, Tsunade," Jiraiya said.

"Really?" Naruto said excitedly. "Jiichan told me she was a cousin of mine."

"That's true," the Toad Sage said thoughtfully. "Her grandma was a great-great-aunt of your mother. I hadn't thought of that. That could actually be useful."

"Where do we find her?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not exactly sure," Jiraiya admitted. "My contacts say she's in northeast Hi no Kuni and I've got a couple of leads."

"You going to teach me anything while we travel?" she asked.

"How would you like to learn one of your father's signature moves?" he offered.

"That would be great!" she exclaimed. "Which one? The Hiraishin?"

He laughed. "I wish!" I never was able to learn that one. No, it's the Rasengan. It's actually his most famous move that he invented himself. He was more famous for the Hiraishin, true, but the Second Hokage actually invented that one. Your dad just perfected it."

Naruto stopped walking and started bouncing on her toes. "When do we start?" she asked excitedly.

Jiraiya laughed again. "In a day or two. I need some supplies in order to teach it to you."

"Why didn't you get them in Konoha?" she grumbled.

"Relax," he told her. "We'll be looking for her for at least a week or two. Maybe longer."

* * *

The first evening they spent in a roadside inn near a couple of farms. Late in the next afternoon they came to a decent-sized town. In the lobby of the hotel, Jiraiya noticed a woman who seemed interested in him. He sent Naruto up to their room alone.

"Stupid Ero-sennin," Naruto grumbled as she unlocked the door. Since he had not taught her anything since leaving Konoha, he did not deserve the title of "sensei."

She threw her things on her bed and started removing her weapons so that she could get comfortable.

A knock on the door startled her. She giggled to herself. Rejected already, Ero-sennin?

She opened the door and saw two people she was not expecting. One of them looked like an older Sasuke. He had an active Sharingan spinning with three tomoes. The other was bluish with shark-like features with a large pommel sticking over his shoulder. They were both were dark cloaks with red clouds on them.

"You're not Ero-sennin," she said.

"Is this the brat?" the shark man asked.

"Naruto has blond hair and blue eyes," the Uchiha said. Wasn't Sasuke supposed to be the last one?

Naruto opened her mouth and then shut it. "Wrong door," she said. She moved to shut the door, but the Uchiha stuck out his hand and stopped the door.

"Her face looks like her mother's," the Uchiha said. It must be Itachi, the one who murdered the rest of the clan. "She must be using a poor Disguise Technique."

His statement froze her. Itachi knew her mother?

The shark man snorted. "I don't know why anyone would Disguise themselves as an albino Hyuuga."

"Come with us, Naruto-chan," Itachi commanded.

"I'll cut off her legs so that she can't run. Just because we need her alive doesn't mean I can't cripple her." The shark man laughed uproariously.

By the time Naruto had processed his words, he was already in mid swing. Her mind was still struggling with the fact that Sasuke's brother knew her mother!

Itachi frowned and moved to stop his partner, but he was going to be too slow. Naruto's mind kicked into panic mode. _Block! Block!_ she thought as she stretched forth her arm. She hoped the Kyuubi would be able to heal the wound she would get from this.

Itachi's arm grabbed his partner's shoulder just as a bone jutted out of her palm and intercepted the wrapped sword the shark man was swinging at her.

"Kaguya!" shouted the shark man.

"How'd you know?" Naruto asked.

"The Shikotsumyaku bloodline ability!" he said.

"Oh, right the clan," she said. "No, I'm not from the Kaguya clan. Distantly related, though."

She felt some tugging on her chakra from where the sword pressed against the bone sticking out of her palm. She wrenched back at it and the hold on her chakra disappeared.

"How are you resisting Samehada's chakra drain!?" he demanded.

"My chakra is my own," Naruto stated. "It obeys me and no one else."

"You are quite surprising, Naruto-chan," Itachi said. "I think Leader-sama would want her intact, Kisame-san." He turned to Naruto. "You _will_ come with us. A few tricks won't protect you from us."

"Leave her alone!" a voice called from down the hall. "You won't take my new family from me!" Sasuke appeared with Hinata close behind him.

This was getting out of control. She summoned her chakra and manifested it externally, activating her doujutsus. She hoped her chakra flaring up would attract Ero-sennin.

Sasuke's eyes flashed to the Rinne-sharingan. "Divine Will!" he shouted.

Naruto's attackers went flying down the hall. Luckily for the hotel, he had directed the pulse enough that the walls were largely unharmed.

"Not a good spot for a fight," Hinata muttered as the two approached her.

"Where's Jiraiya-sama?" Sasuke asked.

"Chasing skirts," Naruto ground out. "Let's escape out the window via contingency clone."

The other two nodded. This was their plan for an ordered retreat. She created nine clones which all jumped out the window. She was disoriented by the fact that she could see through all of their eyes. She must not have ever generated clones with her Rinne-Sharingan active before. This was something to investigate, but not right now. "Downgrade your eyes," she told her clones.

The clones closed their third eyes, leaving only the Byakugan. The clones jumped out the window.

By this time, Itachi and Kisame were in the doorway.

"I see you didn't follow my advice, foolish Little Brother," Itachi said.

"Why would I follow the advice of a madman?" Sasuke snarled.

"I think you need to be retaught your lesson," Itachi said.

"Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind!" called Jiraiya from the hall. Pink flesh oozed from the walls, enclosing them in a narrow passageway.

"This is the esophagus of a fire-breathing Rock Toad from Mt. Myouboku," Jiraiya said. "You won't be escaping this!"

"Kisame-san, we're leaving," stated Itachi. "We can't face Jiraiya-san in here."

Kisame growled. "You'll get yours, brats. Just wait."

Itachi's eyes spun into a shuriken shape and black fire burst from it. "Amaterasu," he said. The black fire burned through the fleshy wall, leaving an escape route for the two men who quickly left.

"Not that I'm not thankful," Naruto said to his teammates, "but why did you come?"

"Itachi put Kakashi-sensei in a coma," Sasuke said. "We heard someone say he was coming after you."

"It was dangerous of you to come," Jiraiya said.

"Dynamic Entry," a too familiar voice called. The Green Beast's foot smashed into Jiraiya's jaw.

"Gai-sensei!" Naruto said. "You just attacked Ero-sennin!"

"Ero-sennin?" Gai asked. He looked and saw Jiraiya sprawled on the floor. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"Ero-sennin?" Jiraiya growled as he sat up. "Ero-sensei was slightly better. Why the new nickname, brat?"

"I've been with you for days and you haven't taught me anything!" Naruto complained.

"Stop complaining, brat!" Jiraiya commanded.

"Sasuke-kun, Hinata-kun," Gai said, "we need to return to Konoha."

"Ero-sennin isn't doing a good job of protecting, Naruto-chan," Sasuke said. "We should stay."

"Sasuke-kun, you and Hinata-kun are up for promotion due to your performance in the Exams and your actions in the Invasion, but a chuunin must follow the chain of command."

"Fine," Sasuke scowled. "You better do a better job of keeping my imouto safe, Ero-sennin," he added to Jiraiya.

"Ero-sennin?" Jiraiya complained. "You're corrupting your peers, Naruto-chan."

Naruto smirked. Then she said to Sasuke, "Imouto? Why am I the younger sister?"

Sasuke smirked. "Maybe because I was born first, Dead Last."

Naruto stuck out her tongue. "That's completely irrelevant. Girls mature faster."

"Real mature, Bunny-chan," Sasuke said with another smirk.

"Be safe, Naru-chan," Hinata said, hugging her.

"You too, Hina-chan," Naruto said.

"Don't frown too much while I'm gone, Emo-chan," Naruto told Sasuke, giving him a hug.

Sasuke froze and then awkwardly hugged her back. "Try not to die, Dead Last."

"See you, Gai-sensei," Naruto said to the Green Beast with a wave.

"Let's get out of here, brat," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and they left out the window.


	25. Chapter 25: Tsunade

When they stopped to rest at the end of the next day, Jiraiya finally bought the supplies needed for the Rasengan training.

"Balloons!?" Naruto exclaimed.

Jiraiya nodded. "Water balloons." He picked one up and then water balloon stretched and popped.

Naruto activated her Byakugan and Sharingan. "Do that again!" she commanded.

He shrugged and did as she commanded. This time she could see the chakra in the balloon swirling on multiple axes.

She picked up a water balloon and swirled her chakra on six axes, which popped the balloon.

"First try!?" Jiraiya exclaimed. "It took me days to do this step and the Sharingan isn't supposed to be able to duplicate the Rasengan because its sealless!"

Naruto chuckled. "I have really good chakra control. Once I knew what to do it was easy. To be honest, my Byakugan was more useful for figuring it out, but having my Sharingan on helped to speed up my perception so that I could notice what was happening better, even though the Sharingan itself didn't penetrate the balloon."

"Huh, I wonder if the Hyuuga could figure it out if they weren't suck stuck-up asses about keeping their Gentle Fist 'pure,'" he muttered.

Naruto giggled.

"I've noticed that you do have good chakra control," Jiraiya said with a shake of his head. "The reports I got from Sensei said that it was horrible. What happened?"

"I abused Shadow Clones and chakra control exercises for months," she said. "I also think it has to do with my inheritance—my chakra just seems for 'willing' to do what I want since my eyes changed."

Jiraiya sighed as he picked up a scroll and tapped it on his wrist.

"What's that Ero-sensei?" she asked.

"Back to Ero-sensei, huh?" he said with a groan.

"You taught me something," she answered sweetly.

He shook his head. "This is a specialized sealing scroll. The seal on it allows you to seal a bunch of items at once and then withdraw them one at a time. It works best if they're all the same item because you can't predict the order in which they'll come out." He shook his head again. "These are all the water balloons we don't need anymore."

"Can I have them, Ero-sensei?" she asked with puppy dog eyes.

"What do you want them for?" he asked as he handed the scroll over.

"A prank, of course!" she said.

"Not me, I hope!" he said.

"Nah, probably Kono-chan and his friends," she said. "Or maybe Emo-chan? Who knows?

"What's the next step," she asked excitedly.

Jiraiya sighed and pulled out another scroll. A rubber ball popped out. He tossed it to her. "Do the same thing with the ball."

"Show me!" she commanded.

He shook his head. "Nuh uh. I want _you_ to figure it out—not your eyes. I will give you a hint, though: power."

Simply adding more power wanted to make her spirals bigger. Since the ball was already smaller than the balloon, this was a minor challenge for her. Adding power to all six spirals and shrinking it down to fit within the ball was a good stretch of her chakra control. She popped the ball on her seventh try.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Unbelievable. Do it again and pop it in less than a second."

Within half an hour she had gotten it down from her original three seconds to less than a second.

"What's next?" she asked excitedly.

"Nuh uh," Jiraiya said. "I refuse to let you learn something it took me months to learn in one day!"

"Meanie," she said with a pout.

* * *

The next day, Jiraiya took out a package of unfilled balloons.

"At least having to blow up the balloons will slow you down," he said with a hint of a whine.

"What do I have to do, Ero-sensei?" she asked.

"You have to do what you did in the previous steps without breaking the balloon. To do this you have to form a shell of chakra around the technique. Again, I want you to figure it out without using your fancy eyes. You'll learn more that way."

He blew up a balloon and then held it in his hand. The balloon did not move, but Naruto could see the glow of the chakra within it.

"I think you're just embarrassed at how much I'm showing you up, Ero-sensei," she said with a saucy grin.

"Am not," he replied petulantly.

She giggled and took the package of balloons.

Adding power had been easy for her; power, she had lots of! Keeping her containment shell going for longer than a second while swirling chakra within it on multiple axes was very difficult, even with her exceptional chakra control. By bedtime she could get it to last for three seconds before it went unstable.

* * *

She had thought about leaving a bunch of Shadow Clones behind at their campsite to practice while they traveled, but decided against it. They were supposed to be keeping a low profile. Instead she practiced while she walked. Her contingency clones let her know when anyone was coming in plenty of time to stop.

She practiced without the balloon, since it was annoying to fill a balloon only to have it pop within seconds. She only checked her progress with the balloon every hour or so.

Much to Jiraiya's equal disgust and delight, she had the Rasengan down perfectly with two days of starting the third step.

Stories of her mother said that she could manifest seals with her chakra at the end of her Adamantine Sealing Chains. She wondered if she could do that with her hair—or form Rasengans at the ends of it. She smiled wickedly at the thought of assaulting the Snake Jerk with 10 Rasengans at distance all at once. The only problem was that when she manifested her chakra externally in order to control her hair, she was highly visible for kilometers to anyone that could detect chakra. Ero-sensei had told her to avoid that, if possible, while they were on the trip, so she could not practice it to see if it were possible.

* * *

A couple of days after Naruto finished learning the Rasengan, they arrived in Tanzaku-gai where Jiraiya's contacts told him that Tsunade was. The town had a large castle in it that was in ruins.

As he usually did, Jiraiya left Naruto to check on his contacts. Naruto wandered the town. There were many casinos. Out of boredom, she started playing the slot machines. About every third pull she won something. Most of her winnings were small, but one of them was a major jackpot. Amused she gathered her winnings. Maybe it was karma balancing her awful childhood?

She approached a card table, but was waved away with the words "No Hyuuga." She walked away with a smirk. If she could be bothered, she would have returned using a Disguise. Her unique Disguise Technique was good enough to fool the meager efforts to detect the technique that the casino used.

When she met the Toad Sage at the appointed time and place, he was a little put out when she asked him to seal her winnings.

"How'd you get that?" he asked. "I would have thought they wouldn't let you at the table with your white eyes."

"Slot machines," she answered.

"All that?" he asked.

"I won one big jackpot, several smaller ones, and a lot of little payouts," she said with a smirk. "I think they were about to ask me to leave."

He shook his head. "What's the total?"

"15 million ryo," she with a smirk.

"No more whining at me to pay for stuff, brat," he said.

"Hey, you're the 'world-famous author,'" she said. "It's not like you're poor."

"Anyway, I think I've found where she is," he said.

The Toad Sage led her to a pub. He pointed out two women in their twenties. "The blonde is Tsunade."

"What!?" she exclaimed. "She looks half the age I'd expect for your teammate."

Jiraiya chuckled. "She's fairly vain. She uses a genjutsu seal to disguise her age."

The two of them approached Tsunade and the other woman.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya called.

"What are you doing here, Old Perv?" the woman grumped. "I'm having reunions left and right."

"Why? Who else?" Jiraiya asked. They had heard rumors of a giant snake at the castle, but he obviously wanted to confirm that Orochimaru had talked to her.

"Our other old teammate came to see me too," Tsunade said.

"What did Ol' Snake Eyes want?" Jiraiya asked.

"Wanted some injuries healed," she replied.

"You told him 'no,' of course," he said.

"Of course," she said.

Naruto noticed that Tsunade's companion looked guilty or nervous.

"Hi, I'm Naruto," she said to the dark-haired girl.

"Hello, I'm Shizune," the girl answered.

"She did say 'no,' didn't she, Shizune-san?" Naruto prodded.

"She didn't help him, no," Shizune said, but still looked guilty.

Jiraiya caught the byplay. "Tsunade! He killed Sensei!"

"So he said," Tsunade said.

"You're still considering helping him!?" Jiraiya exclaimed.

"He promised me something I want more than anything in the world," Tsunade admitted.

"Nawaki and Dan?" Jiraiya asked with a frown.

"Do you really think whoever they are would thank you for asking the Snake to enslave them for you?" Naruto sneered.

"Who's the funny-looking brat?" Tsunade asked Jiraiya.

Before Jiraiya could say anything, she said, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm starting to think it was a good idea you didn't stay to take care of me, Baachan!"

"What did you call me?" Tsunade asked dangerously.

"What else should I call a _much_ older cousin, Baachan?" Naruto replied innocently.

"You don't look like you could be Kushina's daughter," the older woman said.

"If you cared about family at all, you would know what happened to me!" Naruto snapped.

Tsunade looked like she had been slapped.

"Come on, Ero-sennin," Naruto said derisively. "It's obvious the old hag isn't the right one to replace Old Man Hokage." That could be the only reason they were looking for her with this timing.

Naruto's words seemed to rally the older woman. "I wouldn't want that fool's job anyway," she said.

"How dare you!" Naruto said icily. "How dare you make light of their sacrifice!"

"That's all that job is, is sacrifice! Konoha has taken everything I ever cared about from me! And striving for that job has taken the most!"

"Better to have died protecting those you love than to waste your life wallowing in self-pity!" Naruto said.

"You have a problem with me, Bunny-chan?" Tsunade growled.

"You bet I do, Baachan!" Naruto said. "My whole life has been a sacrifice and you don't see me whining and complaining. I don't have to take some washed-up has-been denigrating the job I strive for!"

"I don't need some _genin_ telling me I'm a has-been," Tsunade growled. "You want to throw down, Bunny-chan?"

"I'm not scared of you, Baachan!" she retorted.

"Um, Naruto. . ." Jiraiya tried to intervene.

"Don't worry about me, Ero-sennin. Worry about the old woman."

Shizune was trying to calm down the older woman unsuccessfully.

Naruto marched out the door. "Come on, Baachan! Let's take this outside!"

Tsunade followed her. The two faced off in the street outside the pub.

"I won't even need more than a single finger to defeat you, Bunny-chan!" Tsunade boasted holding up her index finger.

"Your loss, Baachan," Naruto sneered. "What are the stakes?"

"I heard about the albino Hyuuga that cleaned out the slots over at the Lucky Goldfish Casino. That you?"

"I'm not really albino, nor am I a Hyuuga, but yeah, that was me."

"If you lose you give me your money, go home, and forget about being Hokage."

"Okay," Naruto responded. "If I win, you stop wasting your life with drinking and gambling and make something of it. You also come to Konoha to heal my Sensei."

"Not going to insist I become Hokage?" Tsunade asked.

"I have yet to see any evidence you'd make a good one, Baachan," said Naruto. "Besides, I want to be the first female Hokage."

Tsunade laughed—for the first time without any mocking. "Your mother wanted the same thing."

Naruto whistled her Replacement signal and was Replaced by a contingency clone that was monitoring her. She knew she was in over her head. Even if she was out of shape and out of practice, Tsunade would still be very formidable. The only real chance she had was if the woman underestimated her. Because of this, she refrained from using her bloodline abilities. She did not really regret her words, but admitted to herself that they were not exactly wise.

Since Orochimaru was probably nearby, she also could not manifest her chakra externally without him knowing she was here. She made a Shadow Clone and then dispelled it so that her contingency clones, including the one now facing Tsunade, knew her plan. She created a bunch of other clones that stealthily moved to surround the fight at a distance.

Her plan had Tsunade making the first move. The older woman obliged by striking the ground with the single finger she had held out. The ground split and the crack sped toward Naruto's clone. The clone jumped and landed away from the crack. When she landed, the clone formed the two seals for the Swamp of the Underworld and called its name.

Tsunade started. As she started to sink, the blonde slammed the ground with her fist which splattered the chakra-infused mud all over the place and disrupted the technique at its source.

"How could you teach a genin an A-rank ninjutsu technique, Jiraiya?" she shouted.

"It fits her style so well that I couldn't resist," the Toad Sage replied. "Plus she was up against an insane jinchuuriki in the Chuunin Exams. She needed the edge."

"You faced a jinchuuriki in the Exams?" Tsunade shouted. "Are you insane? You should have forfeited!"

Naruto Replaced her clone so that she could talk to the woman herself.

"Did you forget that I'm a _jinchuuriki_ too?" she said. She hated that word. "I was the only one who could face him. He ruthlessly killed someone in the preliminaries and I couldn't let that happen to one of my friends! I beat him too! With hardly breaking a sweat!"

"So you think you can beat me because you beat another genin jinchuuriki?" Tsunade laughed.

Naruto shook her head. "I'm under no delusions as to our relative skills, but I figure I only have to make you violate the terms of the wager—which I already have. You used your whole fist to disrupt my technique."

Jiraiya laughed. "She's got you there, Tsunade."

Tsunade frowned. "We never made my boast part of the stakes."

"Backing out, Baachan?" Naruto said sassily.

"How about we alter the wager?" Tsunade said.

"Why should I when I've already won, Baachan?" Naruto asked.

"You like high-level techniques, right?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto nodded. It was true.

"Double or nothing. You learn an A-level technique of my choosing within a week and I'll not only return to Konoha and become the Hokage. I'll give you my grandfather the First Hokage's necklace." She held up a necklace with a large bluish crystal on it that hung around her neck.

"Deal!" Naruto exclaimed.

Tsunade smirked. "The A-rank technique I want you to learn is the Mystic Palm Technique. It's the foundation technique for medical ninjutsu and requires exceptional chakra control. Shizune will show you how. In order to win, you have to heal a fish that has been out of the water for ten minutes."

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed. "I've been wanting to learn that technique for months!"

Tsunade shook her head at Naruto's exuberance.

"Don't look so smug, Hime," Jiraiya said. "She already has exceptional chakra control. She learned the Rasengan in three days start to finish and probably could have done it in less if I had let her."

"Three days!" Tsunade yelled.

Naruto smirked held up a hand and formed a perfect Rasengan and held it. "I hope you're not too attached to that necklace, Baa-chan."


	26. Chapter 26: Snakes, Toads, and Slugs

The next day, Naruto reported to Tsunade and Shizune's hotel room. Shizune answered the door.

"Hello, Naruto-chan," she said. "Just allow me to get my things and then we can go somewhere for me to teach you."

The dark-haired young woman ducked inside the room and then returned carrying a bag with a shoulder strap. She led Naruto to the forest just outside of town. The older woman was pensive and silent as they walked. She stopped in a small clearing.

"I hope you don't think too poorly of Tsunade-sama," she said. "She's had a hard life so she comes off as abrasive. She's really much kinder than she appears at first."

Naruto snorted. "It can't have been harder than my life and you don't see me running from my responsibilities."

"Tsunade-sama's brother and fiancée both died chasing the office that you want her to fill within weeks of giving them that necklace that's attached to the bet. She feels that the necklace is cursed and that it was her fault they died."

"At least she had someone," Naruto said darkly. "Do you know how many close friends I had before I became a genin five months ago?"

Shizune shook her head.

"None," Naruto said. "I don't feel a lot of sympathy for one of my only living relatives who chose to run away. If it weren't for Old Man Hokage and a couple of ramen chefs, all three of whom were too busy to really look after me, I would have committed suicide by the time I was six."

Shizune looked horrified and embarrassed. "Do you mean to hold a grudge against her then?"

Naruto shook her head. "It's not in my nature to hold grudges. I'll forgive her when she stops running away. I've already forgiven Ero-sennin for being a lousy godfather." She smiled brightly. "Enough angst! Teach me the technique!"

Shizune demonstrated the two hand seals and showed her what to do. Within an hour Naruto had it down.

"Good job, Naruto-chan," Shizune said. "However, that was the easy part. For the next part, we need to catch some fish. I think I saw a pond over this way."

They spent another hour catching some fish at the pond.

"Now that you know how to create medical chakra, you need to learn how to use it. For this part, we'll leave one of the fish in the air for a few minutes—long enough to injure it. You'll use the technique to heal it."

Shizune was correct in that using the medical chakra was much harder than creating it. However, Naruto had excellent chakra control and she managed to do it three times in a row by the end of the second day.

"I can't believe you did it!" Shizune said. Nobody has ever learned the Mystic Palm Technique so quickly!"

Naruto chuckled. "I have a little bit of an advantage when it comes to learning techniques, Shizune-neechan. I have the chakra of the Mother of Chakra, so chakra techniques come naturally to me."

"Mother of Chakra?" Shizune asked.

"Outsutsuki Kaguya, the mother of the Rikudo Sennin and the progenitor of the Uzumaki, Senju, Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Kaguya clans. She was the first human to have chakra."

"How did that happen?" Shizune asked.

"I'm not sure," Naruto replied. "I've been told this process happens regularly with powerful people who have unfinished business when they die. As far as I know, I'm Kaguya's first transmigration, but her grandsons, Outsutsuki Indra and Asura, transmigrate frequently. Their previous transmigrations were Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama."

"I've heard of the First Hokage and his rival of course, but I've never heard of Indra or Asura before," Shizune said.

"They were the Rikudo Sennin's sons. Indra was the progenitor of the Uchiha clan and Asura was the progenitor of the Senju and Uzumaki clans."

"If the Senju and Uchiha clans are related, why did they spend so long fighting?"

"A squabble over inheritance," Naruto said. "The Uchiha are descended from the elder son, but the Rikudo Sennin named the younger son his heir. Indra ended up disagreeing violently with that decision and his descendants followed suit."

"How sad," Shizune murmured.

Naruto nodded.

"Hey, Shizune-neechan?" Naruto asked. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What's that, Naruto-chan?" she said.

"Can you not tell Baachan or Ero-sennin that I've won the bet?" Naruto said with a smirk. "Call it my revenge, but I want her to think she's won and then snatch it away from her at the last minute."

"I really shouldn't. . ." Shizune said, "but I will."

* * *

Over the next few days, Shizune and Naruto continued to meet. Shizune taught Naruto other medical ninjutsu: a diagnostic technique, a bone-setting technique, and a poison-leaching technique. None were as difficult as the Mystic Palm, but it was generally felt that if a medic nin could not learn the Mystic Palm, it was not worth teaching them the others.

Naruto grew to like the dark-haired young woman and enjoyed their time together. She was ecstatic that she would be returning to Konoha with them. Shizune was turning into an older sister figure, just like Ayame.

In her spare time, Naruto worked on getting familiar with her newly discovered bloodline ability, Shikotsumyaku. She figured out two applications for it. She could make bone protrusions extend from her palms and use them like built-in kunai. The other thing she could do was to make bone spurs curve out of her body at regular intervals. These acted as protection against slashing and clubbing attacks, but would not do much against lunging attacks. She thought that eventually she could make her palm bone spurs act like swords if she could figure out how to shape them better.

* * *

The day the bet was over, Naruto approached Shizune and Tsunade's door, wondering if she should let the old lady know she had won yet. When she knocked on the door, nobody answered. This had not happened before, so Naruto opened the door, finding it unlocked. Inside she found Shizune lying unconscious on the floor.

"Shizune-neechan!" Naruto exclaimed.

Naruto ran to her and used the Diagnosis Technique on her. The dark-haired woman had a mild concussion. Naruto quickly healed it with the Mystic Palm.

"What happened, Shizune-neechan?" she asked.

"Tsunade-sama got into an argument with me and she knocked me out," Shizune admitted embarrassedly.

"I was afraid of that," Jiraiya said from the doorway. "We went out drinking last night and she slipped me something. I just woke up, but my chakra control is still being effected by the drug."

"I'll find her," Naruto said.

She made six Shadow Clones. The clones activated their Byakugan and then ran off in different directions.

Shizune diagnosed Jiraiya. "I can't do anything to help you, Jiraiya-sama, but you should metabolize most of it on your own within 30 minutes."

After ten minutes, Naruto felt new memories enter her head. "Found her," she told the others. "She's meeting Snake Eyes at the castle ruins. Kabuto is also there." She frowned.

"Who's Kabuto?" Jiraiya asked.

"He's an older Konoha genin I met during the Chuunin Exams," Naruto said. "He seemed like he was helpful, but he was skilled enough to suppress his chakra despite failing the Exam for the six times before withdrawing before the preliminaries this time. He said he was low on chakra, but he was suppressing same as before."

Jiraiya grimaced. "Sounds like a mole. Let's go. Expect the worst and pray it hasn't happened."

As they raced to the ruined castle, Naruto got another blast of memories from a clone. "She's engaged Snake Eyes and Kabuto in a fight."

The other two sighed in relief. They arrived in time to see Kabuto slice his palm and spurt blood all over Tsunade. The Slug Princess shrieked and recoiled.

"Still has Hemophobia, huh?" Jiraiya muttered.

"Unfortunately," Shizune said.

"I'll handle, Snake Face," Jiraiya said. "You handle the lackey, Shizune-chan. Naruto-chan, I want you to hang back and support Shizune-chan. Don't go high order unless absolutely necessary. We don't know if Itachi and his partner are hanging around, but if they're close it would attract them."

Naruto grimaced. "Got it, Ero-sensei."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama," Shizune said.

Jiraiya sped toward Orochimaru.

Shizune threw shuriken at Kabuto to get him to back away from her teacher. The boy jumped back. Shizune blew a purple cloud at Kabuto, which engulfed him. Naruto saw him sink into the ground with her Byakugan and lunge toward the dark-haired girl's feet through the ground.

"Underneath you!" Naruto shouted, but Shizune was too slow.

Glowing chakra blades nicked her ankles. The glasses-wearing boy gloated as he rose from the ground. "I've severed your Achilles tendons with my Chakra Scapels. You're out of the fight, my dear."

Naruto activated her Sharingan and made a dozen Shadow Clones. She launched her bolas at the traitor. He sank into the ground again to avoid them.

"I'll admit that you're pretty good for a genin, Naruto-chan," Kabuto said with a smirk as he rose from the ground, "but you're no match for me. I'm really the equivalent of a high-level jounin like your sensei, Sharingan no Kakashi."

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe you're a jounin in a third-rate village like Oto, but I figure that turning traitor was the only way you could advance."

The boy chuckled. "You can't betray what you were never loyal to. I think you'll find that Oto is more powerful than you think. It doesn't have pointless morality holding it back."

Naruto chuckled in return. "You don't know how glad hearing that makes me feel. Konoha has no need to fear a few lone wolves and a bunch of cannon fodder."

"Ah, yes," Kabuto smirked. "Konoha's vaunted Will of Fire. How did that work out for you growing up, Kyuubi Brat? I heard you made your first friend only a few months ago."

"At least I have friends and I'm more than a lackey. How do the Snake Jerk's boots taste? Or do you prefer to lick something else?"

While they had been bantering, Naruto and Kabuto exchanged volleys of bolas, kunai, and shuriken. Naruto exchanged with her clones using Replacement, so that Kabuto did not know where she was.

The tempo of the fight changed and Kabuto lunged at the clone that was between him and Shizune. The clone "popped" and Naruto lunged at the boy with her Shikotsumyaku. The bone pierced the traitor in one of his kidneys. One of Naruto's clones replaced her before her opponent could retaliate.

"Another bloodline, Naruto-chan?" the boy said. "I really _must_ talk to whoever did this to you." He chuckled. "You'll find that I'm very familiar with the Shikotsumyaku and that you don't know enough to use it to its full potential."

Naruto was surprised to see Kabuto shrug off what should be a fatal strike.

Kabuto continued to target her clones, Naruto swapped between them and calmly waited for a chance to strike. She saw an opening. This time she pierced the back of his ribcage and swore she got his hear. However, Kabuto twisted and aimed a strike at her with his Chakra Scalpels. With her bone weapon caught in his ribcage, she was vulnerable. Only a quick Replacement saved her from a debilitating wound.

Naruto discontinued the use of her newest bloodline ability. She could not afford to be caught like that again.

"You continue to surprise, Naruto-chan," Kabuto said condescendingly, "but I'm afraid that your excellent hit-and-run tactics won't help you any longer."

"And why is that, Boot Licker?" she asked. "I can keep doing this forever."

"Can you?" he asked archly. "I know the Leaf's weakness."

He advanced toward Shizune again. The older girl was using the Mystic Palm on her ankles, but tendons were not something that could be healed in a few minutes.

"Replace the friendlies!" Naruto commanded.

A clone Replaced Shizune, but Tsunade remained in place. Naruto grimaced. Tsunade must have too much chakra for one of her clones to Replace unwillingly.

Kabuto advanced on the unresponsive Slug Princess. Naruto Flickered behind Kabuto, but instead of stabbing him with her bone bloodline, she slammed a Rasengan into his chest from behind just as he was about to stab her with his Chakra Scalpel. He lost control of the technique and instead of damaging her tendons or organs, it cut the flesh of her arm.

Naruto called forth the Mystic Palm and healed the wound. "Looks like I win our bet, Baachan," she said.

"What?" Tsunade started and stared at her and then noticed her wound closing. "I guess you did."

"Cheer up Baachan," she said with a cheeky grin. "Making the impossible happen is my specialty."

All of the sudden, Tsunade shoved her, and Orochimaru's Kusanagi grazed her ear. The Byakugan's blind spot! It figured that Orochimaru would know about it!

"You're more trouble than you're worth, Brat!" she heard him say. "Time for you to die!"

"You won't lay a finger on her!" Tsunade shouted. "For my first act as Fifth Hokage, I'm going to do what Sensei should have done long ago and put you out of our misery!"

The diamond on Tsunade's forehead dissolved and lines and characters spread out from the location. She lunged for the snake-eyed man who was wielding his sword with his tongue.

Surprisingly Kabuto was on his feet again and retreating with Orochimaru. She examined the chakra flow through him and noticed that he had medical chakra flowing through him continuously. She grimaced and thought that she would have to decapitate him to put him down.

All three Sannin and Kabuto used the Summoning Technique. A giant slug and toad faced off against two giant snakes, each with a person on their head. Jiraiya must have gotten most of his chakra control back.

As the four faced off, Naruto helped Shizune to her feet. The other girl had just finished healing her tendons. The two of them watched the fight. For a second it seemed like the biggest of the snakes had the Toad Boss in a tough spot, but Tsunade grabbed the toad's sword and pierced the snake's mouth, pinning it until it dispersed back to the summon realm. Orochimaru took the opportunity to flee pulling Kabuto behind him with his tongue.

"Gross," Naruto muttered.

Shizune wordlessly nodded.

Jiraiya and Tsunade approached. Tsunade took off her necklace and put it around Naruto's neck.

"I can't believe it, Brat," she said, "but somehow you did it."

Naruto giggled.

"What's so funny?" Tsunade asked.

"She learned it by the end of the second day, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said.

"What!?" the Slug Princess exclaimed.

Naruto grinned cheekily. "I wanted you to think you had a chance, Baachan."

A vein in Tsunade's forehead throbbed. "Don't call me that, Brat!"


	27. Chapter 27: Homecoming

"Oy, Brat," said Tsunade as they were packing to leave for Konoha. "I want you to give me your analysis of Orochi's lackey."

Naruto paused for a moment and then spoke, "He claimed to be as skilled as a high-level jounin, but I think he was more like a tokubetsu jounin. His Chakra Scalpels were quite effective, but against someone who could avoid them or block them, he seemed to be vulnerable."

"Blocking a Chakra Scalpel is not a trivial task, Brat," Tsunade said. "Avoiding them in close combat is hard because they go through most solid defenses. The only reason you avoided them was your skill with Replacement."

Naruto shrugged. "He seemed one-dimensional to me. The thing that made him actually difficult to fight was his quick regeneration, which was actually superior to mine."

"How would you counter him?" Tsunade asked.

Naruto took another few moments to think. "Get Ero-sennin to draw up some seals to stop his regeneration or close off his chakra and then use someone fast to tag him with them, or draw him into a trap. He seemed pretty clever, but his pride could probably be used to get him."

"What threat ranking would you assign him?" Tsunade asked.

"B-rank, if you had the seals and a way to apply them," Naruto said. "Without that? A-rank, for sure. Without a way to cut off his chakra, the only way to beat him would be to outlast him. His chakra levels were tokubetsu jounin level, so that should be possible for anyone also A-rank or someone with huge reserves like me."

"You're the only one with close to your level of reserves that isn't S-rank, Brat," Jiraiya said.

"How sure are you of this analysis?" the Slug Princess asked.

"As sure as I could be with only seeing one short fight," Naruto said. "Which, to be honest, isn't much."

"What areas would you watch out for?" Tsunade asked.

"If he knows more ninjutsu than what he showed us or if he can do more tricks with the snakes," she answered.

"What do you think of her analysis, Old Perv?" Tsunade asked.

"It was pretty good," Jiraiya admitted, "but I think she's discounting Kabuto a little. Snake Eyes wouldn't use someone weak as a lieutenant."

"Orochi was always a little too fond of clever tricks like the Glasses Brat's regeneration," Tsunade said.

"What threat level do you think I am, Ero-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I think I'll decline to answer," he said with a laugh, "I wouldn't want you to get a swelled head."

"That sounds promising," she said with a smirk. "A-rank?"

"You wish, Brat!" he responded.

"Ah, come on," she pouted. "I managed to subdue the Ichibi pretty handily."

"You have a special advantage against Bijuu and jinchuuriki, Brat," Jiraiya said. "You would have had loads more problems against other threats of that level."

"I know that," she protested. "Normally you would need to be S-rank to take on a Bijuu single handedly."

"Okay, I'll admit it," Jiraiya said, "when you do that funky thing with your hair and your freaky extra eye gets its rings, you approach A-rank."

Naruto pouted at his description.

"Hair? Eyes?" Tsunade asked.

"Remember what happened with Kushina-chan's hair when she got mad?" Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade nodded.

"Bunny-chan here, can do that too, only more extreme," he said. "It grows and can grab things like an octopus and even block ninjutsu. The only problem is that her chakra stands out like a huge beacon when she does it and we're trying to avoid drawing some Bijuu hunters to us."

"Someone's hunting the Bijuu?" Tsunade asked, shocked.

"I'll fill you in later," Jiraiya said. "She also has a third eye that she normally keeps hidden. When she normally opens it, it's a Sharingan. If she's doing the thing with her hair, it looks like a combination of the Sharingan and Rinnegan."

"Let me see," commanded Tsunade.

Naruto opened her third eye.

Tsunade used the Diagnostic Technique on her. "Everything seems normal."

"How did you get three or four bloodline abilities, Naruto-chan?" Shizune asked.

Naruto sighed and told them the story of her kidnapping, what the Kyuubi had told her about Kaguya and transmigration, and what she had figured out from talking with the Hyuuga Clan Head and Old Man Hokage.

"That's quite an amazing story, Brat," Tsunade said.

"My life has been a little too exciting since the Genin Exams," Naruto said, "but I prefer it to what it was like before."

Both of the older adults looked a little guilty and the conversation lapsed.

* * *

The trip back to Konoha was uneventful. Naruto did manage to pester Jiraiya into admitting that she was borderline C/B-rank without manifesting her chakra externally.

When they arrived there, Jiraiya dismissed Naruto and hurried off to the Hokage Tower with Tsunade. Naruto went and found Hinata and Sasuke and filled them in on what had happened. She was pleased to hear that they had managed to escape getting into much trouble for running off to warn her about Itachi.

The following day, Tsunade had a rousing coronation in the square in front of the Hokage Tower. Naruto heard later that Konohamaru had barricaded himself into the Hokage's Office because he was afraid that people would forget his grandpa. Tsunade had needed to threaten/cajole him out of the office. Naruto sought him out and offered to take him to Ichiraku's.

"Idiot," she told him as they walked to the ramen stand. "How can people forget your grandpa when his humongous face is watching us all the time?"

She gestured to Hokage Mountain.

"Have people forgotten any of the other Hokages?" she added.

Konohamaru managed to somehow pull off looking embarrassed and petulant at the same time.

The next day, Tsunade woke Kakashi from his coma. Naruto told her about Anko, the cursed seal, and how she had removed it from her teammates. Tsunade asked to see Hinata and Sasuke as well as Anko. After examining Naruto's teammates, Tsunade had her go over what had happened with the seal.

"You think you can remove it, but she'll start hemorrhaging chakra?" Tsunade asked.

"Yeah, one of the med-nins said that you were the only one who could stop the hemorrhaging, Baa-chan," Naruto said. "If it doesn't work, I can patch it my way, but we don't know what my patch will do to someone who's not a descendant of the Outsutsuki."

Tsunade had Naruto go ahead with the procedure. It was easier to do the fourth time, although the Snake's chakra was still disgusting.

When she had finished absorbing the cursed seal's chakra, she said, "I'm done removing it, Baa-chan. You ready to patch her up?"

"Go ahead and release it, Brat," the new Hokage said.

Naruto watched Tsunade work with her Byakugan. The older woman's patch was much finer and smaller. It was also hooked into Anko's own chakra.

"My chakra should gradually be replaced by your own and then naturally absorbed into your chakra network," Tsunade said. "I'd take it easy for a couple of weeks though."

Anko hugged Tsunade, practically in tears. "Thanks, Hokage-sama," she said. "It feels good to be free."

She then wrapped Naruto into a hug. "Thanks, Brat," she said. "If you ever need a favor, let me know."

Naruto was not used to being hugged, so she just awkwardly patted the older girl's back.

* * *

Three days after taking office, Tsunade called Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, Shino, Sakura, and Lee into her office along with Kakashi, Kurenai, and Gai.

"Lee-san," Tsunade said, "unfortunately, you had a poor matchup in the Finals and did not get to show any of your skills. You will not be getting promoted. The judges did say that they recommended that you find a way to improve your genjutsu recognition and dispelling."

Lee started to rant about how he would not let his Flames of Youth die. Tsunade threw a paperweight at him to shut him up.

"Sakura-san," Tsunade said, "the judges were very impressed with your genjutsu skills, especially the nonvisual one. However, they felt that you should have a backup in case genjutsu was contraindicated. Your performance was good enough to put you on a short list for promotion. If you broaden your skills, you may be promoted without needing to return to the Chuunin Exams."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sakura said. She seemed disappointed, but at the same time pleased with the praise.

"Shino-san," the new Hokage said. "Although you didn't win, the judges were impressed by the wide range of tactics you used in your match and your mastery of basic shinobi techniques. They were also impressed with your awareness of your chances once the match neared its close. You are being promoted to chuunin. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Shino said. He was as stoic as always.

Both Kurenai and Sakura congratulated him, but Naruto could tell they were both slightly irritated underneath. She figured it was because they felt their chosen art was being slighted. Naruto could see their point. Despite being potentially very powerful, genjutsu was the least respected of the three major shinobi arts. This was especially true in Konoha where the Sharingan and the Byakugan easily defeated its usual forms. Even the Uchiha, whose Sharingan made genjutsu easy, had usually specialized in ninjutsu because it was flashier.

"Sasuke-san," Tsunade said. "The judges were impressed by your defeat of Shino-san as well as your ability to recognize and dispel a nonvisual genjutsu. You also received a commendation from the Daimyo due to your involvement in fighting off the Invasion. You are being promoted to chuunin. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said with his typical smirk.

"Way to go, Emo-chan," Naruto said, drowning out most of the other congratulations—other than Sakura's.

"Naruto-chan," Tsunade said. "The judges were impressed with the fact that you used two different strategies to beat Temari-san and Gaara-san and seemed in control of both matches. Your defeat of the Ichibi during the Invasion was also noted. You are being promoted to chuunin. Congratulations."

"Woohoo! Thanks, Baachan!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Don't call me that, Brat!" Tsunade yelled as she threw another paperweight at her. "I can still take back your promotion!"

"No way!" Naruto said. "Your hat will be mine!"

Hinata giggled quietly at Naruto's antics while Sasuke rolled his eyes. The others seemed a little shocked that the new Hokage more or less let her get away with it.

"Hinata," Tsunade said. "Your case is the most difficult because you only had one match, which you won very quickly. The judges were impressed at the that you planned out a simple way to negate many of your opponent's skills. This would ordinarily not be sufficient, but because of the notes on your accomplishments in the Forest of Death and the Invasion—you too received a commendation from the Daimyo—I have decided to promote you after consulting with your sensei. Congratulations."

"Awesome!" Naruto shouted. "All three of us made it! Team Seven rules!"

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Hinata said demurely.

"This calls for ramen!" Naruto said.

"You think everything calls for ramen, Dead Last," Sasuke said.

"That's because everything does, Emo-chan," Naruto proclaimed. "And you can't call me that anymore since I passed the Chuunin Exams as a rookie!"

"Fine," Sasuke said. "I'll save it for when you've done something extra stupid, Bunny-chan."

The five rookies plus Lee exited the Office after those that were promoted picked up their chuunin vests from Shizune. As they left, Kakashi was still harassing Gai about all three of his students making it on their first try compared to none of Gai's.

* * *

Tsunade wanted to make a "show of force," so she was sending out most of the jounin so that Konoha's adversaries would not think it was weakened by the invasion. This included the senseis of the genin teams. The night before the senseis were to leave, the Rookie 9 plus Team Gai and their senseis had a promotion party for Team Seven and Shino at a barbeque restaurant with a party room. Naruto made sure that Haku, Ranmaru, and Karin were invited.

Naruto had not had much time to talk to his neighbors since getting back with Tsunade. Both Haku and Karin were a little jealous that she had learned the Mystic Palm Technique as their senseis at the hospital had not taught them that yet.

"Just because it's an A-rank technique, they want you to be in the program for a year before they think of teaching it," Karin complained. "We mainly just end up doing work that a civilian could be doing."

Naruto chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that Baa-chan didn't think I had the chakra control to learn it." A thought struck her. "Hey, Baa-chan is a relative of yours too!"

"The relationship is pretty distant," Karin protested.

Naruto huffed and waved dismissively. "Maybe it would be if we had tons of relatives," she said, "but as far as we know, the three of us only have each other as blood relatives."

Everyone had fun, except for possibly Sasuke, who kept getting cornered by Ino and Sakura. The climax of the party happened when Haku froze Kiba's underwear when he would not take "no" for an answer.

Naruto walked home with Haku, Ranmaru, and Karin. When they got to their floor of the apartment building, they found that Naruto's door was bashed in.

"Karin-chan, take Ranmaru-chan and go for help," Naruto commanded as she activated her Byakugan.

"Okay," Karin said as she slung the small boy onto her back.

Naruto saw a single person standing in the center of her living room. He was not wearing any village's Badge. He had gray hair and two red dots on his forehead. He wore a loose shirt that left some of his chest exposed, shinobi pants, and sandals. He had a rope-like belt with tied in a large knot behind him. His chakra reserves were typical of a jounin.

"He's definitely a shinobi, but he's not wearing a badge from Konoha or anywhere else," she told Haku.

Naruto made ten Shadow Clones and had half of them Disguise themselves. She drew on her chakra and forced it to the surface. Since she was in Konoha, attracting attention was a good thing. Her hair grew and her third eye opened.

"I know you're in there," she called. "Come on out!"

The teenager, he looked to be a couple of years older than Naruto, walked confidently out of the door to her room.

"Orochimaru-sama has marked you as his," he proclaimed. "You will submit to him."

Naruto snorted. "Snake Face tried, but failed to mark me."

"Show some respect for Orochimaru-sama!" the boy demanded.

"I don't respect traitors!" Naruto yelled.

The boy stated, "Konoha betrayed Orochimaru-sama first by casting him out."

"I'm not fighting in here," Naruto said. "I don't want to ruin this place more than you already have."

She and Haku backed to the hall window. "Jump out, Haku-chan," Naruto commanded.

Haku ducked out the window and dropped to the ground. A drop from the third floor was trivial for shinobi. Naruto followed her.

They retreated to the center of the street in front of their building. Because they were coming from a party inside Konoha, neither she nor Haku had many of their weapons on them.

Since the stooge was going after her because of the mark, Orochimaru may have sent someone else after Sasuke and Hinata. Naruto made more Shadow Clones to go check on them as well as try to find help. The fact that the Shadow Clones had their Rinne-Sharingan open, was disorienting before they closed their third eyes and ran off toward the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan compounds.

"You'll find that most of your ANBU are distracted," the boy said. "You won't be getting any help until it's too late."

"I won't need any more help," Naruto proclaimed. "My clones were just going to check on my friends."

"Weak trash like you?" the boy laughed.

"I mopped the floor with your master's right-hand stooge," Naruto exaggerated.

"You'll find I play with my prey much less than Kabuto-san does," the boy said. "I give you one last chance to submit to your new master or I dispose of you as an unprofitable slave."

"I'm not that sick freak's slave!" Naruto yelled.

"Very well," said the boy. He sprouted bones from his arms and chest. He pulled a large one from his shoulder and held it like a sword. "Kabuto-san told me that you had stolen my clan's Bloodline. I think you'll find that a thief does not measure up to the real thing. My name is Kaguya Kimimaro and I will defend my dead clans' honor."

"I didn't steal it!" Naruto said. "I inherited it from our common ancestor!"

"You are a Kaguya?" Kimimaro asked, halting in his advance.

"No," Naruto replied, "but the Uzumaki, Kaguya, Senju, Hyuuga, and Uchiha all have a common ancestor. For some reason, I've inherited all of the Bloodline Abilities that she carried."

"No matter," Kimimaro said. "Even if you were my sister, I would kill you for the insult to Orochimaru-sama."

Kimimaro charged her. Her normal method of fighting did not work as well when she was powered up, since she was limited in the number of Shadow Clones she could summon without becoming confused. She sent two of her "tails" at the boy. He slashed at it, but her hair deflected his strikes. The boy retreated.

"Why do you follow an evil man like, Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.

"Orochimaru-sama is not evil," Kimimaro said. "You do not understand his greatness!"

"How is the traitor great?" Naruto shouted. "He murdered the man who cared for him like a father. He experimented on inocents!"

Kimimaro said, "He showed me kindness and gave me purpose. Those others were undeserving."

She summoned three Shadow Clones. This was her limit when they all had the Rinne-Sharingan. She could only do that many because of her experience with the wide field of view that the Byakugan gave her. The clones charged the boy and tried to engage him with their own Shikotsumyaku. Kimimaro made short work of them. Naruto made three more clones and sent them after him. Her strategy was to try and force him to showcase his moves so that she could learn them with her Rinne-Sharingan. She could not copy the way that he manipulated his bones, but the Byakugan gave her hints. The sword forms he used, however, were hers.

Even with her clones learning his moves, Kimimaro proved too much for them. He was too fast and had too much experience. Fighting him was more challenging than Kabuto. Kimimaro preferred sword techniques, but he had other tricks, including shooting his fingertips at her. Naruto blocked them with her hair.

She tried to corral him, but he was too fast for her hair to encircle him.

Finally, she said, "Haku, can you catch him in your mirrors?"

"Yes," Haku said.

Haku took out a scroll and used her chakra to release its payload: about a thousand liters of water. A few centimeters of water covered the street.

"Ice Spears," called Haku. Two large spears of ice formed beside her and shot toward Kimimaro. Haku followed after them. The seconds that the boy took with dealing with the spears allowed Haku to get close.

"Demonic Ice Mirrors," she said. Slabs of ice rose around Kimimaro. Haku jumped into the closest. She flitted between the mirrors, hurling icicles at him of various sizes. Kimimaro allowed the smaller ones to strike him, concentrating on the largest. The needle-sized icicles that struck him did not penetrate. Naruto could see that he had bone plates underneath his skin protecting his vital spots.

Kimimaro patiently waited and then hurled his bone sword at a mirror. The bone pierced the slab and Haku cried out in pain. The mirror shattered and the other mirrors fell to the ground. Naruto could see Kimimaro's bone piercing Haku's shoulder.

"Predictable trash," Kimamaro murmured as he approached the downed ice maiden.

As he was preparing to lunge at Haku, Naruto called, "Heavenly Attraction." She pulled at him with her third eye's power.

Shocked, Kimamaro was yanked through the air and into the waiting grasp of Naruto's hair "tails." Naruto wrapped him up and tried to crush him, but the last Kaguya's bones were too strong. Kimimaro tried to break free, but Naruto's hair was unbreakable. Naruto sent another "tail" to wrap around his mouth and nose, to suffocate him and break the stalemate.

An evil chakra began to emanate from within the cocoon. Naruto recognized it as one of Orochimaru's cursed seals. It was different than the seal that Naruto, her teammates, and Anko had received, but the chakra imbuing it was the same. Naruto began to absorb the chakra from it and purify it. By now she was sickeningly familiar with the Snake's chakra, so it was easy. It took five minutes to drain the seal of the Orochimaru's chakra. Instead of patching the wound in the boy's chakra system, she allowed it to gush out the Oto nin's life energy. He died of chakra exhaustion within minutes.

Naruto would have liked to have saved him, but she had no way to handle him safely and he showed no indication that he would listen to reason. Patching the chakra system of an enemy with an Outsutsuki Bloodline Ability seemed beyond foolish.

Naruto collapsed to the wet ground emotionally exhausted. She absorbed her extra hair and let her chakra return to normal. One of her clones was already using the Mystic Palm to close Haku's wound.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Next chapter will say whether or not Sasuke or Hinata were attacked.

Regarding Naruto's analysis of Kabuto, I'm not going to comment on whether it was correct or not. Obviously, it was incomplete.

Was Shino being promoted and Sakura being passed over fair? Not really, but I thought it matched up with Shikamaru's promotion in canon.


	28. Chapter 28: Goodbyes

After resting for a minute, Naruto examined memories that she had ignored while fighting Kimimaro. She felt a little guilty, but she scanned for memories of Hinata first. Sasuke was like a brother, but Hinata was like a sister and her best friend.

Thankfully, the Hyuuga compound had not been hit. When Hinata had heard that Haku was with her, she had taken off toward the Uchiha compound since Sasuke lived alone.

Her examination of her Shadow Clones' memories was interrupted by an ANBU. "Chuunin Uzumaki-san?" he said.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Everything under control here?" the ANBU asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "It was hairy for a few minutes." She gestured to Kimimaro's body. "That was one of Orochimaru's goons. Why'd it take you so long to get here?"

"This isn't my patrol area," he said. "Our radios were down, so there was some confusion on who would investigate without leaving the rest of the village unguarded."

"Hold a second," she said. "My teammate might have had a similar attack."

She searched her memories for any information on Sasuke. He had been attacked, but had fought them off long enough for Hinata to arrive trailed by her father, Neji, and a few other Hyuuga.

"It appears that there was another other attack, but it has also been foiled," she told the ANBU.

The ANBU nodded and moved toward the corpse. She remembered rumors of spies pretending to be ANBU during the Chuunin Exam Invasion.

"I'm sorry, ANBU-san," she said, "but I'm going to have to insist that the body be turned over to someone I know. He had a bloodline ability and our system has been compromised tonight."

"Very well, Uzumaki-san," he said. "I will remain with you until someone a known authority comes."

She walked over to where Haku was recovering.

"Sorry, Haku-chan," she said. "I didn't think he would be that tough."

"It's my fault, Naruto-chan," Haku protested. "He was right; I was moving very predictably."

The clone that had been tending Haku dispelled. The clone's memories indicated that the wound was deep, but had missed anything important. The clone had closed the wound and stimulated healing. She had also already told Haku what she needed to do to care for the wound. Haku would be fine in a couple of days.

Approximately ten minutes later Mitarashi Anko arrived.

"Looks like you had some excitement here, Brat," she said.

"Too much," Naruto agreed. "Any idea how this could happen?"

"Too early to know," Anko answered.

"Any chance I could find out?" she asked.

"Don't get your hopes up, Brat," Anko said. "It will probably end up above your pay grade."

Naruto nodded. She explained what she knew about Kimimaro. Anko sealed his body into a special scroll. While she was doing that, a pair of ANBU escorted Karin and Ranmaru back.

"I don't know about you," she said, "but I don't want to stay here tonight, even if they'd let us."

The other three all nodded agreement.

"Let me see if Sasuke-kun has a spot for us," she said. "He has that whole district practically."

She formed a Shadow Clone and dispelled it.

Before too long, a memory of Sasuke telling her clone they could stay in one of his houses arrived. Hinata would also be staying with them for company. Amusingly, Neji had also offered so that Sasuke would not be so outnumbered. Although it may have been because he was once again taking his position as Hinata's guardian seriously.

"He has a spot for us," she told the others. "Let's go."

* * *

The next morning, all those involved were at the Hokage's Office for a debrief. As Anko had predicted, they were not told much other than that several security holes had been exploited and were now being filled.

After the meeting, Tsunade asked her to stay.

"We'll wait for you outside, Naruto-chan," Hinata said.

Naruto was left alone in the office with Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"I'd like to take you on a training trip, Naruto-chan," Jiraiya said. "You'd become my official apprentice."

"For how long?" she asked.

"Approximately three years," he replied.

"Three years!?" she asked incredulously. "That's way too long to be gone!"

"You remember Itachi and Kisame?" he asked. "They belong to an organization called Akatsuki that are after the Bijuu for some reason. My contacts tell me that the group is going underground for the next few years while they wait for the Sanbi to reform. It's a good time to put you through some intensive training so that you're prepared to face them."

Naruto thought. Honestly, the offer was tempting, but being out of the village limited her high-end abilities because they attracted too much attention. She had an inkling of an idea, but she needed to talk to Hinata and Sasuke about it.

"I need to think about this, Ero-sennin," she said. "I'll tell you my decision tomorrow."

"What!?" he protested. "I'm giving you a prime opportunity here. Not just anyone is offered the chance to be apprenticed by Jiraiya the Gallant!"

"Tomorrow, Ero-sennin!" she called over her shoulder as she left the office. She could see Tsunade smirking at her old teammate.

"Come on, guys," she told her teammates. "We need to talk."

* * *

The next day, Naruto was once again in the Hokage's Office with Tsunade and Jiraiya. This time she had also invited Sasuke, Hinata, and Anko.

"Why'd you invite Anko-san, Brat?" Tsunade asked.

"It's all part of my brilliant master plan," Naruto said.

Anko raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm calling in my favor, Anko-san," Naruto said. "Listen to what we have to say and we'll see if it's workable."

"I'm willing to at least listen," Anko said.

Naruto grinned widely. "My team and I have decided that we want to be the new Sannin by apprenticing to each of them. Since we don't trust Orochimaru, we'd like you to take his place, Anko-san."

"I'm honored that you would think I measure up to that," Anko said, "but the truth is that I don't. Whoever apprentices to me will be getting the short end of the stick."

"When Naruto-chan came to Sasuke-kun and me about this yesterday," Hinata said, "we interrogated Kurenai-sensei about you and your skills, Anko-san. We came to the conclusion that your skills would fill some gaps in my own skillset regarding medium and long range pretty nicely. Your taijutsu style would also supplement my own style of Gentle Fist, which is more flexible than the standard style. I would be honored if you would accept me as your student."

"Is your father okay with this?" Anko asked. "I don't have the best reputation."

"While I love my father," Hinata answered, "he forfeited his right to dictate my training years ago."

"Do you have access to the Snake Summoning Scroll, Anko-san?" Naruto asked. "Part of the image of being the 'Neo-Sannin' is being able to summon. We're not withdrawing our request if you don't, but it would be a huge bonus."

"Yes," Anko said, "I do, but the Snake Clan is very fragmented, as you could probably guess by the fact that both Orochimaru and I summon from them. Anyone signing it would need to be careful not to summon Manda or any of his Lieutenants."

"Excellent," Naruto said.

"So you'll become my apprentice then, Brat?" Jiraiya asked her.

"No," she said with a smirk. "I'd like to ask Baachan if she'd take me on."

"What?!" Jiraiya exclaimed, "but I'm your godfather and your father summoned Toads!"

Sasuke smirked and said, "I thought so."

Naruto laughed. "Way to blow an S-ranked secret, Ero-sennin."

Tsunade shook her head with a sigh. "Hinata-chan, Sasuke-kun, Anko-san. Please keep what the idiot implied a secret. As Naruto-chan said, it's S-rank." She turned to Naruto. "Why me?"

"I'm the team's support," Naruto said. "Plus, I find that I like healing injuries more than causing them."

"If I were to guess," Tsunade said, "that's Hinata's position too."

"That's true, Hokage-sama," Hinata said, "but I'm a better fit for Anko-san's skillset and Naruto-chan is a better choice as a medic because she isn't as likely to need one due to her heritage and her burden giving her a phenomenal healing rate. If I were the medic then, I'd be healing myself and Sasuke-kun. If Naruto is the medic, then she'd be healing me and Sasuke-kun."

"We were also planning on a certain degree of cross-training," Naruto said. "I'd like to learn seals and some ninjutsu from Ero-sennin. Hinata-chan would like to learn some medical techniques from you. Sasuke-kun would like to learn some taijutsu from Anko-san."

"I plan on being gone for three years, Brat," Jiraiya said. "That would make cross training difficult."

"We'd like you to take shorter trips," Sasuke said. "I would go with you for a couple of months and then come back for a week or two, then we'd leave again and repeat for the duration of the three years."

"Why do you want to learn from me?" Jiraiya asked.

"Ninjutsu is my specialty, which is something that both you and Orochimaru are known for."

"You realize that I'll make you learn the ninjutsu the hard way," the older man said. "I won't just let you copy it with your eyes."

Sasuke nodded. "I'm counting on it. I want to be a true ninjutsu master. We also figured that you could teach me about your spy network. I'm a better choice for it anyway, since Naruto plans on being Hokage, not me. Coming back to the village would also give me a chance to pick up genjutsu from Kakashi-sensei and possibly Kurenai-sensei."

Jiraiya nodded. Naruto could tell he was not pleased with the overall idea, but could tell the logic of it.

"You realize that if you become a medic nin it will keep you out of fights until and if you learn the Strength of a Hundred Technique, don't you, Brat?" Tsunade asked Naruto.

Naruto snorted. "That hardly applies to me, Baachan. I've always had an incredible healing rate and it's only gotten better. It would take a lot to put me down. Plus, even without the Kyuubi, I have more chakra than Konoha's entire medical corps put together—including you. I can always hang back and send in clones or take pot shots with ninjutsu without being in danger of running out of chakra."

Tsunade huffed. "I'd have to evaluate your healing rate, Brat. You willing to take the chance that I'll make you hang back from any fights?"

Naruto stared her in the eyes and said, "Yeah, Baachan, I am. Plus, I'm confident I can learn your technique, it that's what it takes."

Tsunade looked at the group, "We're all agreed that Naruto-chan will apprentice under me, Hinata-chan under Anko-san, and Sasuke-kun under the Pervert?"

The three chuunin all nodded.

Anko said, "Looking forward to it."

Jiraiya sighed and said, "I'd prefer to apprentice my goddaughter, but I'll go along with this plan."

"Don't worry, Ero-sensei," Naruto said. "You can still teach me fuuinjutsu."

* * *

The next day found Naruto, Hinata, and Tsunade at the gates, saying goodbye to Sasuke and Jiraiya.

"Take care of yourself, Emo-chan," Naruto said as she wrapped her pseudo-brother in a hug.

"You too, Bunny-chan," he said. "Try not to get too soft without me here to spur you on."

Naruto snorted. "Not likely. I saw Baachan looking at a paper entitled 'Training Plans for the Brat' and laughing evilly."

Hinata giggled. She gave Sasuke a hug too. "Try not to let Ero-sennin corrupt you too much," she said.

Sakura and Ino took that moment to arrive at a run, almost out of breath. They glared at Naruto and Hinata.

Hinata stepped back with Naruto as the two fangirls mobbed Sasuke, whining about how long he would be gone.

"You let slip that he would be gone for three years, didn't you, Naruto-chan?" Hinata asked.

Naruto flashed her a foxy grin. "Maaaaybeee."

Hinata giggled and shook her head. "Think we should let them know he'll be back in about three months for a short visit?"

"No way!" Naruto said. "After how those two have treated me? Let them know desperation."

Hinata giggled some more.

They walked over to where Tsunade and Jiraiya were talking quietly.

"Take care of yourself, Ero-sennin.," she told her godfather. "And watch after Emo-chan. He's not a bad kid, once he opens up a little."

"You too, Brat," the Toad Sage said. "Read those books I gave you while I'm gone and _practice your calligraphy_."

Naruto grimaced, but said, "Will do."

Jiraiya gave Tsunade one last leer and then turned and shouted, "Come on, Emo-chan. Time to go."

Sasuke scowled first at Jiraiya and then Naruto.

Naruto smiled widely. She and Hinata waved as the two men walked off.

The End (for now).

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thanks for reading. This was a fun story to write. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I intend to write a sequel to cover Shippuden years. I won't be doing the Anime fillers.


	29. Sequel Notice

The sequel to The Vulpine Rabbit is in the process of being posted. Look for it in a few minutes. It is titled The Rabbit Ascending.


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